How Happy are You?

[bbyrd009]

Nice place to be from; I'm from there : )

[houston]

Nevah been happy. Have been content for a long while. Am now discontent.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Timmy

I'm in Texas. Heaven is a local call, here.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by Timmy

I'm in Texas. Heaven is a local call, here.

Need a quarter?

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by houston

Nevah been happy. Have been content for a long while. Am now discontent.

Well, at the best of times, there is a sense in which we are to hate this life.
There is a dichotomy here that can be hard to resolve, leads to much misunderstanding.

Life begins at forty, too for the same reason; one begins to prioritize better.

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Need a quarter?

Ha it's fifty cents now, if you can find a phone.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by bbyrd009

Ha it's fifty cents now, if you can find a phone.

Woza! No wonder even people on foodstamps have cell phones!

To answer the original question... I am over the moon happy. I come from a rough start and a rougher middle so I have a great gauge for when life is good. I have learned to appreciate those times and to see hard times and grief as what they are... seasons. They no longer really affect my overall happiness. I can be concerned, worried, stressed but still maintain the knowledge that overall my life is good. It is filled with people I love, who love me back, with awesome friends (some right here at AFF) who love and support me through my best and worst times, with a family that even if they don't totally get me, still allow me to be me.

I also have more material possessions than I ever imagined I would... to me it looks like a lot, to someone else... maybe not but material things are not the center of my being anyway... and I am not stacking my stuff up against anyone else's so I am content.

For the first time in my life I am content with my looks and my body, even though I am fatter, more wrinkled and more gray then I've ever been before. I have learned to appreciate what still works and deal with what doesn't. I realize that while I might be able to fix and patch it up a little, over time I will have less and less physically... so I truly appreciate what I've got now.

People still amaze me. Today I got an email from someone in California... who offered to be my hands and feet if I needed someone to be with mom. I actually cried (so not me). Who does that? I used to believe that there was no one in the world who really cared. I was so wrong... but having believed it I now see human love and compassion as the greatest gift. It trumps anything else one could ever do or have.

I better wrap up my novel before I go all mushy on you and lose my tough farm girl image.

I wish every one of you REAL happiness.

[Titus2woman]

Boy... I really did write a book, didn't I?

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Boy... I really did write a book, didn't I?

I loved what you wrote, and agree 100% with you.... you could write a book, you write and verbalize so well.... and I agree with you in that happiness is not composed necessarily of material things, but it is the inward peace and contentment that don't have a material measuring cup.

I am happy, joyful, and full of peace today even though my life isn't perfect, some material things may be lacking, but I have a family that loves me, and God who is with me... and... life is good....

[Timmy]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Woza! No wonder even people on foodstamps have cell phones!

To answer the original question... I am over the moon happy. I come from a rough start and a rougher middle so I have a great gauge for when life is good. I have learned to appreciate those times and to see hard times and grief as what they are... seasons. They no longer really affect my overall happiness. I can be concerned, worried, stressed but still maintain the knowledge that overall my life is good. It is filled with people I love, who love me back, with awesome friends (some right here at AFF) who love and support me through my best and worst times, with a family that even if they don't totally get me, still allow me to be me.

I also have more material possessions than I ever imagined I would... to me it looks like a lot, to someone else... maybe not but material things are not the center of my being anyway... and I am not stacking my stuff up against anyone else's so I am content.

For the first time in my life I am content with my looks and my body, even though I am fatter, more wrinkled and more gray then I've ever been before. I have learned to appreciate what still works and deal with what doesn't. I realize that while I might be able to fix and patch it up a little, over time I will have less and less physically... so I truly appreciate what I've got now.

People still amaze me. Today I got an email from someone in California... who offered to be my hands and feet if I needed someone to be with mom. I actually cried (so not me). Who does that? I used to believe that there was no one in the world who really cared. I was so wrong... but having believed it I now see human love and compassion as the greatest gift. It trumps anything else one could ever do or have.

I better wrap up my novel before I go all mushy on you and lose my tough farm girl image.

I wish every one of you REAL happiness.