by KasiaBear

Created on: May 21, 2007   Last Updated: May 22, 2007

True happiness, I think, comes with that startling realization that you don't ALWAYS have to be happy. In fact, you SHOULDN'T always be happy. Bad times are necessary. Sadness is important. It is imperative that people feel some pain and loss in their lives.

Without the bad, there is no way to properly appreciate the good. Without loneliness and longing, there is no way to truly understand the magnitude of being able to hold your beloved in your arms. You would never know what you were missing, and appreciate it, if you didn't know what it was like to be without it.

Nothing is wrong with you if you aren't sublimely happy all of the time. Something may be wrong with you if you are, though. Those "blah" days, when you don't feel like doing anything or talking to anyone... they are okay. In fact, if you are happy "most of the time," you are well above the curve.

The key to life is not happiness, but contentment. If you are content with your place in life, your love, your job, or anything else, then happiness will roll back around more often. Happiness is a result of contentment. Happiness comes from comfort in a situation.

It is contentment that forms the threads between the happy snapshots of your life. It is contentment that keeps your world together when you don't feel like smiling.

It is contentment that reminds you that happiness is not gone forever, but just hiding long enough so that you will appreciate it that much more the next time it graces you with its presence.

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