In my dream, I was with my daughter and someone else, my husband maybe, looking out at the Pacific Ocean from a space that could have been a park or a run-down but still beautiful office building. Someone was talking, I think my husband. Looking out at the ocean, the sky, the sound of the waves, the people I was with, I stopped whoever was talking and said, “I am so happy right now.” I wanted to mark that time, space, the feeling. Let it be.
Joy & Happiness
Those times are rare. Too rare. When we look around and realize joy has come to us. Do we let it in? Do we greet it? Recognize it? Feel it and eat it up? Has it always been there? Joy and happiness can be found many more times than we acknowledge.
People say shit like, we make our own happiness. I can see that. But I think there’s more to it than that, it’s harder than that. Like, happiness is buried under a lot of day-to-day, year-to-year stuff. Jettison the stuff, use your x-ray vision to see through it, pause long enough to let the quiet rise from the noise, and what’s left? Maybe a bit of joy.
Awake & Happy
Outside my window, the view is very different from my dream. Snow falls softly, the dark bare trees are outlined by white, the sun shines through a gauze of silvery clouds. The view outside my window is black and white. The water is frozen, not lapping. The sky is shimmery grey, not blue. The air is cold, not warm. And yet, and yet… I am so happy right now.
This Life Candy installment was written by our founder, Elvira Gl Aletta, PHD & CEO.
