Movable feast of the heart
Most people I’ve talked to about life said they just want to be happy. Happiness is fleeting. It depends on the outward conditions of our life. If we have a full pocket, happiness is as near as our favorite mall or restaurant. However, if our pocket is empty, or there’s sickness in the family, or there’s the passing away of a good friend or relative, then happiness is as distant as the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.
I’m not saying happiness is unreachable because it can be reached. There are days, however, when happiness is hard to catch. What makes it variable are the conditions that affect this sunshine feeling in our heart.
I want to call happiness the movable feast of the heart. When everything good is going on in our life, we sing with gusto Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy.” When the stock market of earthly pleasures in our life is down, we also walk around the city as if there’s a dark cloud above our head.
Happiness is event-dependent. It is addicted to artificial flavors like wild parties and expensive cars. And no, I’m not envious of people who go to wild parties and have expensive cars. I don’t need a shot of “party favors” or fast cars to get me to heaven faster.
What I’m saying is sometimes we forget to look beyond the physical manifestations of happiness. When we begin to see that there’s more to life than position, honor, fame and money, we begin to get to know Joy. This condition has to be developed from within.
The less discussed sister of happiness is Joy. This human condition does not feast on material goods and it is unselfish. It gives out even when there’s little to give and distributes light that gives hope to the despairing.
While happiness is a movable feast, joy remains steady in the heart and soul. It never leaves us and neither forsakes us even when we deplete our stock market of pleasures and the artificial flavorings of life lose their taste.
So while we can develop Joy, let’s keep an eye on what we put in our mouth, what we say with out tongue and how we show our love with our friends and family.