Happiness

Sometimes emotions are hard to figure out. Good feeling emotions are often hard to identify. I was asked if I take them for granted. I don’t think I do, but I do have trouble identifying them. So I’m looking into some of those this week and trying to come up with words that describe the various good feelings a person can have.

Happy is obvious. But what does happy mean? I looked up happy in a thesaurus to see if I could get a better idea of what happy means. Some of the words were helpful but others were not. For instance, is feeling blessed the same thing as feeling happy? I don’t think so. I think feeling blessed goes along with being joyful, the sense that all is right in the world even if everything seems to be falling down around me. Blessed is more than happy. Ecstatic could have its roots in happiness but I think it goes beyond mere happiness to something bigger. So ecstatic might be too much to just be labeled happiness.

However, cheerful seems to fit with happiness a little better. Cheerful, in my view, means to feel happiness in a way that shows on your face and in your actions. Cheerful means being of a jolly disposition like something funny could happen at any moment. Cheerfulness is being good natured and easy to get along with. That’s also true when I am happy. I am easier to get along with.

Another word that happy brings to mind is light. Happiness is light compared to the heaviness of sadness. Happiness makes me feel light and like I’m walking on air. Everything is soft and easy when I’m happy. Everything seems sunny when happiness is present. So light can mean the weight of happiness and the brightness of happiness at the same time. Other words the thesaurus mentioned were peppy, perky, and playful. I can see feeling those things when I’m happy. When happy I have more energy and am more alert. Those things are associated with peppy and perky. It’s certainly easier to want to play when I’m happy.

So now I have a sense of what it’s like to be happy. Maybe I do take it for granted a little bit and forget to notice happiness. Maybe by writing out some of these ideas I will be more aware of happy feelings when I’m having them. Maybe I’ll notice when I’m happy more of the time. We shall see if that happens.

Other good feelings I’m going to explore this week include contentedness, joy, peacefulness, excitement, thankfulness, confidence, and hope. Maybe I’ll write a series of articles about each of those things.