Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about this little word lately. What it means to me, what it might mean to the people I care about, and what it means to complete strangers. Being LDS does of course give me a slightly different perspective on the word than it might to those that are not of my faith, but not completely. If I were to ask almost anyone on the street what TRUE happiness meant to them, it would probably sound something like this, "True happiness is when you are surrounded by people you love that love you back." Or something along those lines.

Now, I have been taught and I feel that there is a more than a grain of truth to the mantra that we decide whether or not we're going to put a smile on our face each day and whether or not we're going to be happy. However, as I have been thinking about it over the past few days/weeks I also believe that we have a large dependency on one another for our happiness. We DEPEND on each other to be truly happy. We NEED connections to one another. Mental, physical, spiritual, etc. Without these connections we can never be completely happy.

Of course, I've always known this on some level. It's just become something that has taken a more prominent position in my brain than I've ever let it before. When you really think about having to depend on others for some of your happiness, it can be a little scary. This is especially true for someone who likes her independence.

So, from what I've stated so far, the happiness formula could look something like this:

Our decisions + connections to others = happiness

Two songs below, and then I'll be done with my ranting for the night. (I'll probably post again on this subject, I still haven't completely wrapped my head around it, because when you start to dig deeper, you can actually go really far.) The two songs go along with this topic very well I think. I'll let them speak for themselves. :)

(By the way, thank you TeachinFourth for inspiring me to write a somewhat longer, and more personal, post than I usually do. Oh, and for introducing me to the first song on this list. LOVE IT!)



Okay, I actually don't really listen to Josh Groban much, but this song touched my heart the very first time I heard it, and the music video just makes it so much better! My favorite part has got to be when the little girl sees her daddy and runs to meet him. :)