Happiness, Early in the Morning

It has been a little over a week since I started my search for happiness. I have made some progress, and ran into some obstacles, but things seem to be improving, I think. One thing is certain. It is possible to be happier just by trying to be happy. A rule that seems so ridiculously easy it can’t be true. But, I think it is.

Conversely, it seems if you think things are going to go poorly they probably will. Which spells trouble for me, I’ve always assumed things were going to fall completely to pieces, “Every new message brings an evil report of armies on the march and time running short,”¹ which always provided a certain amount of relief when things only went poorly, and if things went well it was almost ecstasy. So, I still wrestle with the inevitability of assuming a day, say Monday for example, is going to be a good day, and then having it blow up in my face. What are the odds of that, though?

My life is routine, my job is uneventful, most days my job wouldn’t even notice if I weren’t there, I have trained my job to do itself, I am in fairly good health, there is not much that can go wrong. My life isn’t foolproof, but it is almost on autopilot. My wife takes care of all the finances and most of the decision making. When things go wrong she fixes them, I am just along for the ride. I am the boy in the bubble, or the old man in the full life body cast, you choose.

So, happiness should easy for me. And really it is. I am pretty happy, I am just happy in my own way. There is no need to make a big, flashy display of happiness, flaunting it in the face of all the miserable people who haven’t figured out how to escape without leaving. Poor souls stuck in the present, mired in the day to day struggles of making ends meet, lost in the salt mines of living day to day. People whose lives are bogged down in balancing check books, planning meals, making payments, all the detritus of living in the 21st century.

Maybe I should start giving lessons.

Welcome to the New Life Explained School of Happiness. Tuition is voluntary. We have a lot to cover, so hold on tight.

First I am going to get some coffee.

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Previously Published on Life, Explained and is republished on Medium.

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