Things that make me happy

Human beings have roamed the Earth for about half a million years now and
although there are 6,5 billion of us, no one has still discovered what makes us tick.
Experts argue about this controversial topic but there is no single undubious answer. Psychologists say that humans are motivated by hunger, sex-drive and fear of death, doctors refer to our heart and brain, Christians would point to God and modern women to the wallet but I tend to disagree with all of them. I say that there is only one thing truly important to people, and that is – happiness.
Happiness is mostly an invisible trait (which is odd for such a big deal) since people are very rarely consciously happy. Humans seem to lack the ability to recognize happiness in themselves. We’ve all heard stories about the “good old days.” Is being happy just nostalgia and the real feeling doesn’t even exist? Or are people just too demanding and think that happiness means that you are constantly in high spirits? Perhaps some men need to see misery in order to define happiness. Therefore we can gather that happiness is a quantity best seen from a distance and it requires an opposite experience to be able to appriciate it.
Everybody wants to be happy and yet, only few people actually are. What is their secret? I would offer this explanation – they expect everything to be perfect for a longer period of time. This hope is in itself an absurdity because everything is never perfect at the same time. That would mean that there are also times when everything is totally bad and that suggests the end of the world. Besides, being happy all the time is not possible, just like knowing everything or paying attention to everything, our mortal bodies just couldn’t handle it. The key to a happy life is…. drumroll please… being happy. As a friend who’s been through a severe depression said: It helps if you pretend to be happy at first, and then your body and mind get used to it. Find the little things that are perfect at that moment in time and be glad.
So, to get back to the title, what makes me happy… Too many things, probably. Nature (with the possible exception of bees and spiders. I am a woman, I can’t help it) and … people. People aren’t a part of nature any more, it seems to me. It makes me happy when I see someone offer their seat to an older person or to a kid with a huge schoolbag. Or when men open doors for women. Or when someone laughs out loud accidentally and then is a bit embarrassed. Or when I see lovers looking at each other like the other one is the most amazing thing in the whole wide world. Or when someone from the urban jungle ratrace looks up and sees the sky and then catches my eyes and we smile as if we know some secret the others don’t. Music makes me happy. When I listen to some old or some extremely weird song and start to dance. Or if I sing really loud and really out of key. My son makes me happy when he comes to hug me with his little sticky hands. I’m happy because I have loved and been loved back.
It’s very easy to be happy once you have decided. And – it certainly helps if you have a full stomach, someone to cuddle with, safe environment to dwell in, a good health and no noteworthy sins on your conscience, and some money for cab fare.
The best description was written on a wall somewhere: "Happiness is when one trouble has just ended and the next one hasn't started yet." And now that we have established the meaning of happiness, it’s time to start pursueing it.