What Is Happiness?

A temporary state of being. An emotion that links the heart and the mind.  Fleeting.  The gold standard of what should be – setting us up to know the taste of it but also the unsustainability.

My children always but also limited to sometimes.  My friends in lovely moments, my husband in special moments of aloneness which feel few and far between.  My parents and the childhood they gave me.  My brother  – for living in the face of silent adversity.

A world of pain and injustice with glimpses of humanity at its best that fill me up with an emotion that does not have a corresponding word in our language.

I do not like the question are you happy?  It is deeply flawed and lacks understanding and insight.  I accidentally ask my children but I should know better.

From the beginning we live with ideals of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It is the process  – not the destination.  Striving, failing and striving again. And again.