Go ahead, ask yourself, “Am I happy, right now, in this moment?” It’s a tough question, no doubt. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know,” as long as you’re being honest with yourself.
We can give you all the health tips in the world, but if you’re not happy, they won’t make a bit of difference. Wellness begins from the inside out. And only you know what is going to make you happy.
We could give you all sorts of different quotes about finding happiness, but ultimately we think this little anecdote will do. It comes from the author Kurt Vonnegut and his book A Man Without a Country. We would have paraphrased it, but as we’re sure you’ll agree, no one can say it better than this:
“And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy.
So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''
So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''
If you can separate yourself from the troubles, stresses, bills, errands, tests and everything else that can preoccupy your life for just a moment, and repeat after good Uncle Alex, then you can find a way to be happy.
Enjoy the little things in life and say, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”
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