Happiness is the ultimate goal almost all the time. We work toward Happiness in our career, in our love life, in our family life. We clean up, build things, fix stuff, take on challenges,
Because of this, it’s easy to view Happiness as a guru at the top of a mountain peak, a gift-giver to strive for, to climb toward, an enlightened guide waiting for you to arrive, finally, after all your hard work.
The thing about gurus, there’s a long wait-time to see them.
So let go of the guru and, instead, let Happiness be a funny little cartoon mascot, a silly jokester who unexpectedly pops their funny little face into the frame of the scene from off-stage to give you a smile. You never know when they’re going to show up to drop a one-liner.
After a while, you start anticipating their cameos. You become your own audience, excited for the next laugh, out of your control.
Sure, you can be happy in Hawaii with a Mai Tai, but what about when your child trips over the dog and spills her milk everywhere? What about when you’re stuck in traffic and you catch someone honking at the person in front of them? What about when you lose the remote and the whole family is butt-up looking in the cracks of things?
There’s a joke in there somewhere.
And the Happiness Mascot is the one to point it out.
The Happiness Mascot has great timing. They’re always available for an appearance. We just tend to shoo them offstage because we’re not ready, which is silly, like throwing away a package without opening it, just because we didn’t order anything.
You don’t always have to work at Happiness. As I’m sure you’ll agree, the best laughs and the broadest smiles come after unexpected punchlines while you’re waiting for something else.