Has anyone ever asked you “Are you happy?” We were sitting with my mother this weekend at her residence waiting for the afternoon musical entertainment and she turned to my husband and asked him that question. Without hesitation he said “Yes” and looked at me. I thought my heart would burst.

Happiness is not something to take for granted. Happiness is a process. Happiness is a gift. It is a gift we give ourselves. It is a gift we hope we share with our friends and family. I read an article in Elephant Journal “40 Life-Changing Quotes on Happiness”  (by Francesca Biller) and there were some great quotes in the article.

“The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” (Henry Ward Beecher). This is mastered by young children and the elderly and they don’t even realize they are doing it! It does not take much to make a child happy. Sometimes it is the box that a gift comes in that brings them pure joy. And it dos not take much to make an elderly person happy. Sometimes it is as simple as seeing you walk into a room and take the time to have a cup of coffee with them.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” (Helen Keller). In my opinion, this really speaks to relationships. The obvious being when you have a loss in love either through a break up or death of a loved one.  But this is also true when a friendship is broken. Sometimes you do not even know what went wrong and often it is caused by other peoples’ drama which impacts on your relationship. Sometimes it cannot be fixed and one needs to stop looking at the closed door and be ready for what is beyond the open door.

“Sing like no one’s listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching, and live like it is heaven on earth.” (Mark Twain). That should be everyone’s mantra. Happiness comes from within. Make it happen.

I hope that each of you can experience the feeling of hearing someone say they are happy and know that you have contributed to their happiness.