We’re all on the quest for happiness. Whether it’s a new outfit, a new job, house, car, vacation, gadget, you name it, we’ll try it. But we’ve got it backwards, true happiness comes from the inside, and this kind of happiness can’t be purchased. The problem with material things is that they’re fleeting, the new car breaks down, the new house has water in the basement. It all changes, the newness of the possession and our excitement wears away and we are left with what we had before, ourselves and our lives, same issues, same situations.

Would it surprise you to know that you are the source of your own happiness every minute of the day? That happiness is a choice made over and over again? The truth is it’s impossible for this illusive state of happiness to ever be sustained from the outside. But it can live within us, burning like a small determined candle in a gusty breeze. This may explain why so many people are unhappy. They’re looking for a quick fix in the wrong place. The state of happiness lives inside and we either say yes to it or continue the endless search for it somewhere out there.

Temporary happiness comes and goes, people in our lives come and go. Attaching our happiness to what’s happening outside of us is asking for disappointment. There is always something to trip us up, a snag in the master plan. We repeatedly get stuck in innumerable ways. All it takes is knowing that right now you could choose to be happier, even with your crooked teeth and hooptie car. Take a closer look, name three things that bring you a sense of happiness, a beloved pet, a cozy home, pop-tarts in the pantry. Begin embracing and relishing those things, big and small, and start letting go of what doesn’t bring any happiness.

This begins the slow work of cultivating the interior garden. This is where happiness will grow if you let it. Own who you are, love who you are, honor what’s in your life, and your particular, and perhaps peculiar, experiences. This is how we start growing that happiness inside. All we’ve been looking for has never been lacking, just quietly waiting inside to be noticed.

Go ahead, take a look, you’ll see happiness has been there the whole time.

kb