...Makes Me Happy
sunshine on my shoulders...
On Thanksgiving Day I sent my paid subscribers a Substack post briefly describing how an Irish person recently asked me if I was happy. He began with, “Do you have everything you need?” (I am staying as a work-retreatant at a Carmelite Catholic hermitage) followed with a fluid quip of, “Are you happy?” which I recognized immediately as a sort of Irish colloquialism. But it conjured up in me the literal form of the question that is asked so very rarely in American culture. That question makes me think about its answer. It made a few of my subscribers think as well.
One of my subscribers (and friend) wrote in response to that post:
I want to parse the word a bit, now that you’ve raised the issue. Maybe it’s just me, but I think happy is a poor term for describing the everyday satisfaction, contentment, resignation, homeostasis, or wellness that fills much of life. It is also inadequate to equate to higher states of bliss, rapture, or the theoretical enlightenment. And I think happy is not easily attained.
I think life is predominately a state of homeostasis for most people; but this equilibrium is fluid, flexible, fluctuating moment by moment, affected by inputs. An event or thought can turn us stressed or worried or peeved, then another can turn us uplifted, eager, or cheered, which we could call happy and I’m fine with that.
But “happiness” also has a higher scale that reaches into a joyfulness, a smiling, beaming, or serene state. There’s a bigger smile involved, maybe just internally. It’s rarer than the everyday satisfaction or pleasures we enjoy. It remains dynamic, its highs not a permanent state, temporary; but they’re higher, and life changing. That’s the kind of feeling I’d reserved for happy, if taking time to give it deliberate thought and expression.
Of course, mere thoughts can change our feelings. But some thoughts bring a greater joy than just “oh, how nice.” Some thoughts can uplift us like nothing else.
I could not have said that better myself.
Let’s define the word “happy”: 1. Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. 2. Having a sense of trust and confidence in (a person, arrangement, or situation) 3. Fortunate and convenient.
(That third one reminds me of what the Sanskrit word “Bhadra” - the name of my Yoga teaching business - means. It means lucky, blessed, auspicious, and a state of well-being. Just sayin’.)
To step for a brief little moment outside of the pet realm of dogs and cats, if riding a horse makes you happy, that happiness may linger for hours after your ride has ended. Then you are back to contentment - which according to the above definition is a form of happiness - just simply further down the peak of the bell curve of happy.
I think most of us realize that being happy is contained in fleeting moments of the little things in life-variety. When you zoom out to the bigger picture and observe the overall life experience, it is more about levels of contentment and less about the high.
To use John Denver’s song Sunshine on my Shoulders as an analogy, the sun - which is specifically on his shoulders - makes him happy. He is clear on that point. But eventually the sun is going to set; he is not going to sit still in that one spot all day because he will probably have to use the bathroom as well as eat something before the sun goes down. That same lovely sunshine in his eyes can potentially make him cry - he is not clear on whether those tears are from the pain of his burning retinas or from happiness. The point may be that too much of a good thing can hurt.
Then, the sunshine looks lovely on the water - which could indicate that sharing what makes you happy with others enhances joy. And finally, not just occasionally - but almost always - the sunshine makes him high (the sunshine is a consistent source of happiness, not a one-off).
Weren’t the 70s the best?
Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high
One of My Joy/Happiness Moments
Blessings & Love,
