about happiness: our summer writing project

Simple Felicity is so named because deep down, I have this sneaking suspicion that happiness really isn’t as complicated as we think it is.

Felicity is simply great happiness.  Bliss.  Joy.  Good fortune.

And it is in the simple things we find it.

A walk on the beach.  A hug from a friend.  A warm cup of coffee on a cold winter day.

Conversations: about things that matter.  about things we are grateful for.  about people we love.

Those are the kinds of moments in which we will – if we’re paying attention – notice that we are content.

I don’t want to write about the things that “everybody” writes about.  I don’t want this little writing project to join the growing line of cliché “21 Days To A Happier You” guides.  (I thought about calling it that, but I can’t.  I just… can’t.  It’s way too cheesy and blasé.)

But I do want to write about happiness, and how to find it.  Because I think you can.  No matter what the outer circumstances of your life are right now, I believe that God wants you to be happy.  And that happiness isn’t determined by how much money you make or how successful you are or aren’t, but by deeper, more eternal things – like knowing (for real, knowing – not just saying or being told) how very much God loves you.  Things like having healthy relationships and learning new things that inspire you to awe and wonder.

There are hundreds of things we could say about being happy and what it is and isn’t, and I suspect I will spend my whole life talking about these things (I mean, my name kind of lends itself to the conversation, doesn’t it?) – but we have to start somewhere.  So I’d like to start here, with this question:

When are you truly happy?

In the moments when joy sneaks up on you so quietly that you almost don’t hear it coming…

In the moments when you can close your eyes and smile and no matter what, you are –  for this moment – completely glad…

In the moments when you are simply and suddenly aware that you are completely and utterly happy…

Where are you?  What are you doing?  Who is there?  Are you thinking about something?  Or are you just being you and not thinking at all?

I want to hear your stories.  Will you share them?

It doesn’t have to be a fantastic story, or even fantastically written.  In fact, if the first thing that came to your mind in answer to these questions seemed so ordinary and common place that you thought, “No, I won’t write about that” – it’s probably the one thing you should write about.  In the words of Dividing The Plunder from the title track of their album “The Ordinary”: “On the ordinary, common path of every day are the extraordinary steps we take in grace.”  

Here are two of my stories:

I was standing in the kitchen one afternoon, two summers ago, cutting up vegetables for a salad, when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I was happy.

Thirteen and a half hours of sheer amazingness.  It was the perfect blend of everything.  Art and music.  Time by the Lake.  Talking for hours.  And… not talking – just… being.  I learned things I hadn’t known there were to know.  Went places I’d never been.  And found joy – deep and incredible joy.  It was the perfect day.  And we’d gotten up that morning without a clue where we were going or what we would do all day.  

It makes me happy again, just thinking about those moments of joy.

I can’t wait to hear about yours.