by Andie Anderson

Created on: May 09, 2008

Everyone seeks to be happy but it doesn't always happen. I plan to have inner happiness but due to hormonal changes, the weather, moods, I don't always end up being happy. I try to incorporate my own personal religion of "God helps those that help themselves" but sometimes you forget that mantra and whether it be due to job changes, being at a crossroads of life and not having any balance or goal, you can sometimes lose perspective of being happy in your life.

Educated minds can sometimes find inner happiness because they know what causes them to be unhappy, they live conflict and resolution type lives and know where to change. Some people are happy living in poverty because they have accepted their lot in life and don't expect to get ahead anytime soon and don't worry about it. I worry all the time about money and about personal goals and thereby I'm not always happy because I strive to be more than I am and can't accept change or that I haven't changed.

As a child I was always happy with the exception of a few disappointments of broken toys, being sick, or not getting my way in a game. I know that Procrastination is the key to achieving my happiness because I know that is my personal hang-up and when I see Procrastination on the horizon, I have to fight it tooth and nail and get things done early. Frustration is the problem that gets me down due to Procrastination.

I think everyone's personal happiness changes yearly, our goals change, our emotions change, and what we want from others and ourselves change. I think if my children are happy, I'm happy and if I'm happy, I can go on to other goals and personal achievements. I want to achieve personal and financial freedom with a career that I love and that is my goal for being happy now, and in the meantime, I will seek out the items I need to achieve this.

I find if I'm surrounded by art and nature, I am also happy with what I can perceive and enjoy on a private basis, Seeing beautiful paintings, photos, and seeing the little aspects of nature around me, I can get the joy I need to go on and create art with painting and with photography so others will enjoy what I enjoy. If I can create joy for someone else, then I have achieved happiness.

Happiness is a ethereal state, it changes every day. You have your own thoughts about personal happiness but last year your idea of true happiness will have changed again. What was important then isn't important now. I used to worry about how much I had at retirement, and I have to work a fulltime job so I can achieve the free from worry feeling about bills, and the like.

Now I just want to create happiness for my family, and joy for others and appreciation, and leave a legacy for others. I feel an urgency to be creative and get out there and show others about nature, photography, art to others who never experienced it. I want people who are not so well off financially to find inner peace and joy in the world around them, that there is something that is low cost that you can enjoy even when your personal surroundings may not be so great, you can get out in the world and walk a trail, see a tiny insect on a leaf and focus on its day in the life and maybe see something beautiful that you never saw before or appreciated. I want to leave a legacy of happiness for others, because I feel at fifty, my life is half over and I need to find out what the new life is out there before I get infirm, can't walk, or talk, or eat, or even breathe, I want to stop wasting time, then I can really be happy.

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