Happiness

Wikipedia defines happiness as an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction.

It's my ultimate dream to experience constant happiness (which is abnormal, if you ask me). But who doesn't want to be constantly happy? However, we are not born to live our lives in pure bliss. As they say, in order to be truly happy, you must have been in deep misery at one point in your life. You wouldn't know how happiness truly feels without experiencing sorrow.

There is nothing more delightful than knowing that there are people who are genuinely happy for other people. It adds joy. And it can never be faked. To quote Pierre,

"There's some people which helping being happy gets me happier. This could be called caring. They also seem to experience the same effect with some other people, so there are kind of circles of people, where I care more and more about their happiness, peaking at myself. But at the end of the day, my happiness wins."

The other night, I receive a phone call from a good friend of mine. She told me the good news that she and her son has just been granted an H-4 US visa. Was I happy for her! I know that she has been waiting for it for a very long time and finally her prayers were answered. I really felt for her because like me, she knows what it's like to be rejected...not only once. And now, she made it WITH her son! It's just the sweetest! We were laughing the whole time on the phone and at that moment I knew how happier she must have felt that someone else is also happy for her.

Find joy in the simplest things and see beauty in each person you meet. They say that contentment is the key to happiness. I say that the secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have and being able to lose all desires for things beyond your reach.

Am I happy? My answer is yes -- because I know what it's like to be in a puddle of mud and I'm glad I am where I am today. I am happy because I choose to be happy.