Happiness . Is attainable?

Happiness by B.Dodd

                                               

As Ken Dodd comedian and singer sang in  1964

‘Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess.

I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed than more than my share of happiness

I’ve got no silver and got no gold

Just a whole lot of happiness in my soul

...... I can see it in the sunshine,  I breathe it in the rain...’

Wonderful lyrics, wonderful sentiments but can this really be true of anyone? Of us?

Why do we pursue happiness ? In the 2006 film ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ Will Smith seeks the entrepreneurial  route ie. More money.  I’m sure if you stopped the ‘man in the street’ and asked him, ‘ What do you most want from life?’ he would no doubt answer ‘ Happiness’

I suppose we would all define it as that  lifestyle which we would   like to enjoy continually. But is it attainable? Can it ever be a goal ?  What makes us happy ? That which makes one person happy may be very different from that which makes another happy.   One person may be happy to receive tickets to a cup final . Another may be happy to win a prize. And yet another may be happy just to be alive and well enough to  see ,  hear and touch and to simply have the ability to think and reason.

Many pursue happiness,  yet it’s seldom found or attained and when it is,  is  often short-lived. It is illusive, transient, dependent on circumstances, finance or health.......  Frequently it is linked with another person’s  success or wellbeing .. a daughter who has just passed an exam, a brother who has just landed that ‘dream’ job...

Jane Fonda has said, “ It’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.”

However George Clooney  has been quoted as saying, “ I don’t believe in happy endings but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately you die a t a very young age or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It’s a mean thing life !”

One  optimistic point of view and one very pessimistic. Into which category do you fall ?

What was the secret of  life as lived by Mahatma Gandhi ?  “ Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live for  ever “....   a noble attitude and one worthy of consideration as long as it’s not interpreted as ‘ Live, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die !’  and I’m sure this is NOT what Gandhi had in mind , a man who exuded peace and contentment.

Often we miss opportunities that if we had  taken could well have made us feel  happy.  Alexander Graham Bell said, “ When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regrettably upon the closed door that we  do not see the one that has opened for us. “

I love this quote by Mark Twain:-

“ Sing like no one’s listening.   Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching and Live like heaven on earth.  !”

So many  books have been written about it. Films made about it. Poetry and stories written about it and of course, Songs sung about it.

Yet happiness is a feeling and  like any feeling  or  emotion it  can ebb and flow, be weak or intense,  be sought yes but not automatically attained.  As mentioned before it can be very dependent on our circumstances, our wealth , good  friendship, family, success, physical abilities. For a great many, merely having a roof over their heads would constitute happiness.

Whereas happiness is a feeling that fluctuates as the wind, joy is a deep seated state of mind  and heart , something more permanent throughout all of life’s ‘ups and downs’ , and life can most certainly often throw up seemingly cruel or desperate   situations.

 As I turn to the Bible I see that it has much to say about happiness. It frequently uses the word ‘blessed’ which is almost interchangeable.

Psalm 144 : 15 ‘Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.’

Proverbs 16:20  ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.’

In Psalm 14:15 there is a warning....’  There is a way that seems right to a man but even in laughter the heart is sad and the end of joy is grief’     I’ve known this feeling and I’m sure you have too !

In John 15:11 Jesus says ,

‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’

For those who follow Christ we are promised joy as a ‘fruit of the Spirit that lives in the believer’

Galatians 5:22 ‘ ..the fruit of the spirit is love, joy , peace , patience, kindness….’

In John 14:6  he says ‘ I have come that you might have LIFE and life in all its fullness’ That doesn’t sound like a miserable , dour , cheerless life to me!