Built-in Happiness

I have been reading Gretchen Rubin's blog, The Happiness Project, regularly over the last number of months and she has some really interesting insights and quotations about life and how to be happy.

This Bob Dylan quote from his memoir, Chronicles, is particularly poignant:

“I looked at the menu, then I looked at my wife. The one thing about her that I always loved was that she was never one of those people who thinks that someone else is the answer to their happiness. Me or anybody else. She’s always had her own built-in happiness.”

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be happy and where I derive my source of joy. It seems like such a easy task to be happy, as it is an elemental emotion, but it seems to be an elusive condition for so many people so often. It means different things for different people, but the most important thing you can do is figure out what it means for you. An important, but not so easy, step.

Today, as I went about my shopping in the Glebe, I spotted an adorable puppy with muddy paws trotting alongside her owner. A golden retriever, I think. Saw her again a few minutes later as her owner attempted to tie her to a post to run into a store on an errand and impulsively, I asked the owner if she'd like me to watch her puppy. That is how I got to visit with Maggie, an adorable, well-behaved little delight, for about ten minutes this afternoon. She was as good as gold. And I was in heaven.

For a few fleeting moments, I was on the receiving end of smiles and friendly glances that I so often give dog-owners, and passers-by made comments like, "what a cute puppy!" I stroked Maggie's head, scratched her behind the ears, and rescued a rock from becoming a snack. Dogs make me happy in a way I can't possible convey into words. They make my whole body smile. Maggie's owner thought I was doing her a favour, but I wonder if she knew the favour she had done for me?

Photo from: www.favorite-puppy-names.com