Greening the Grass: Live and Let Love the Funny Things

It's terrible but I'm once again starting to feel, which makes me wonder if when i'm happy I do not feel. In which case I am numb but unaware, and if that is what true happiness is then I'd rather not feel and be happy right? Wrong....and here's the truth. Happiness is not as elusive as most of us would like to think. That would be the lazier route to take, because if happiness is truly elusive then why spend the energy and/or effort in pursuing it. This brings us to one of the rights mentioned in the Declaration of Indepence. Among life and liberty is the pursuit of happiness. Looking on the other side it always seems that the grass is greener, and so we must do all we can to get over there, where the happiness is. But maybe, just maybe you can start greening your own grass? (That sentence may be taken in any shape or form, as long as you're smiling at the end of it.)

"It's not H-A-P-P-Y-N-E-S-S Happiness is spelled with an "I" instead of a "Y" - Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness

"I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too. 2 I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good." - King Solomon

"Now don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky. It slips away and all your money won't another minute buy." - Kansas (Dust in the Wind)

"Happiness lies in the joy of the achievement and the thrill of creative effort." - Anonymous

As you can see there have been movies made on the subject, sayings, quotes, adages and lessons since the beginning of time. At the creation of the written language, philosophers, doctors, scientist and likewise have poured their thoughts into thousands of pages of books to finally solve the mystery of happiness. However, man in the 21st century is still tirelessly searching for it, in whole abundance and consistency. It seems somebody else always seems to have it to more of a degree than we do. At the age of almost 23, I have wonderfully discerned that there really is no such thing as happiness, and come to terms with the idea that therein lies the beauty of the pleasure it evokes.

When you touch, it electrifies that moment, not just the two of you but the sensation of magic flies into the grace of that graze. A hair raises itself to bask in the quiet exuberance that's been unleashed in the suspended air. You can't describe the feeling though it's on the tip of your tongue, of each other's breath. And you can't seem to grasp the delicacy of what's happening but you know it's right. This abundance of happiness, the explosion of tiny pleasures and the simplicity of it's flow as your hearts races in unison and then it hits you, it must be..........

love?

How many of us have fallen in love, and felt the near exactness of those words as they tumbled out of our mouths. That we speak not just love to each other but connote happiness without hesitance. Equating love with happiness, because no two sensation can be so close to each other and not be the same right?

HappYness: Inside Your Brain

If you've ever been on antidepressants or personally known a person who's is or has been on them, then you're familiar with those three wonderful neurotransmitters that are in control of our "good feelings". If not, lets meet them shall we?

Dopamine - This is a good one, this guy, oh he's great. Heard of runner's high? That pure feeling of euphoria you get after doing some exercise? Yup that's it, that's the dopamine being released in abundant quantity by your hypothalamus. It'll make you do things you thought you'd thought you weren't capable of.

Serotonin - Also partially released by the hypothalamus, it's a facilitator in the process of sleep, sexual response, and appetite. It's function in mental illness is thought to be sort of a deficiency, where post-release action is halted for a bit longer so that it becomes more concentrated and thus effective.

Norepinephrine - This is another neurotransmitter utilized in the treatment of depression for it's part as a stress hormone. It is thought that increasing it will calm you down and a decrease in it's concentration will leave a person feeling confused and unable to focus.

When researchers pulled the results from their study on how the brain behaves in love, the results where astounding. Not only is the person high on oxytocin, also known as the love drug, but your stress level is high, your obsessive thinking and aggression are high, and because your pleasure and motivation is high, you're apt to do something you might regret.

So ask yourself, does love = happiness? Well think about it, if I asked if you were happy, what would you say? Most people would say "Well it depends on how i'm feeling." But if I asked, are you in love, or do you love so and so, you might want to say "it depends," but most likely you would say yes or no. While one is rather obvious and, the other is temperamental.

So you're successful and you have more than enough money to do what you want with, does that mean you've finally found happiness? Well, we know money can't buy happiness, so that's the end of that pretty much. Moving on...

Aha!! There you have it! It's in the WHAT, not the how, or the why, or the who, when, which. It's in the what! And that's how you get happiness. There really is no secret to it, as you've probably heard it many times that the only person, place or thing, that can give you true happiness is yourself. You define your own happiness, and what makes you happy.

Its that easy??!

No, it's not that easy, that's why it can be so elusive. Think about all the things you're doing to try to preserve happiness or at least gain it. Then sit down and stop.

• Stop dieting
• Stop working 40+ hours a week
• Stop putting on makeup
• Stop eating more than you should
• Stop drinking more than necessary
• Stop smoking
• Stop living for others
• Stop envying the celebrities
• Stop wishing for more money
• Stop watching tv
• Stop wishing for that brand new car, house, dress, shirt, watch, electronic

And start acting on those simple things that will make each moment a little more enjoyable

• Start smiling
• Start being grateful
• Start loving yourself (In all ways)
• Start accepting _______ (insert your name)
• Start laughing
• Start looking at the clouds, even when they're gray
• Start looking up literally and figuratively
• Start keeping your word
• Start looking at the people around you
• Start listening
• Start taking control of that pursuit of happiness and know that you already have it.
• START GREENING YOUR GRASS!! (Did you smile?? ^_^)

Happiness runs in a circular motion, Falters like a little boat upon the sea All our souls are deeper than you can see You can have everything if you let yourself be Everybody is a part of anything, anyway You can have everything if you let yourself be

- Happiness Runs by Donovan Leitch