Ate my biscuit on the porch in the swing this morning. The flies weren’t as interested in a biscuit as they are a bagel or maybe the citronella candles have burned long enough to work. The sky was so pretty, blue like the color of Feltman Brother’s baby clothes. All kinds of clouds in the sky. Some so wispy they looked like cotton candy threads. Even saw some mackerel scale clouds. I sat in the swing and watched the clouds for a long time.

Father Sky was practicing his cloud sketching on his blue sky canvas with his white pastel. Late afternoon he picked up a purple pastel and sketched up some thunderhead clouds. Mother Nature blew some wind and the bamboo started to dance and the wind chimes pinged a symphony but no rain fell. I could hear the distant thunder and saw some lightning bolts, enough to run me off the porch and back to my reading chair. Not a drop of rain yet, though.

Read this statement on the internet and its been spinning around in my brain like a tongue twister all day long. “Happiness is not having what you want, but rather wanting what you have,” — Rabbi Hyman Schachtel. I’ve been pondering on this in the swing today. What actually is happiness? Good old Webster’s defines happiness as an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. I think happiness is a conscious choice. And sometimes this choice takes some effort. It’s kinda like learning the difference between wants and needs.

We’re always wanting things, searching for happiness in materialistic things, when in all actuality we have what we need to make us happy right in front of us. We keep searching for the magic potent to happiness. True happiness comes from within. Even in the midst of despair there is still much to be happy for.

When Chief died I thought I’d never really be happy again but I realized he’d want me to be happy and enjoy my life with our children and grandchildren. I think I’m happy but I know I’m content with my life now. I have a peaceful ease of mind and I’m grateful for all my blessings. I love what Nathaniel Hawthorne says about happiness. “Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

Some people hang on to negativity and never figure out that we are all responsible for our own happiness. Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I agree with that. We’re all born with the ability to create happiness. I think one of the secrets to happiness is surrounding ourselves with positive relationships. Being close to others and spreading kindness.

We need to be positive and express gratitude for what we have. We need to focus on the blessings, both big and small, in our lives. Gratitude brings happiness. We can wish for things and we can be sad when things don’t go our way. We all win sometimes and we all lose sometimes. If we accept the flow of life and accept that things will change, we can find happiness. You can always find a rainbow if you have the patience to wait and watch.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living each minute with love, grace, and gratitude,” — Denis Waitley