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I woke up this morning, threw my legs out of bed, pinched myself and realized that yes, I still was alive. I was happy. Until that is, I realized the cat wanted to be fed and I needed to change the kitty litter tray.

What brings us to recognize something in all of the things we do was in fact one of the happiest moments in our otherwise bland lives. We tend to be filled with events and daily news that is purposefully designed to make us unhappy yet when we look back in time, most of what we can see was those moments of humor, the great or even simple pleasures we had in a cup of coffee, being at a place that out had historical significance, being witness to some great good in the world. The bad things in life tend to be consigned to obscurity.

Just recently my dear old Mum passed away. In the last few years of her life she had become impossible to deal with, the older she got the more like a spoiled child she became. My sisters and I were going over her life in the days following and rather than be depressed by those moments, we were all amused by the individual horror stories we could regale. It was all part of our relationships with her and not the frustration we may have felt at the time.

The happiest moments in life are more profound however. I have four children and the arrival of each one of them gave me untold pleasure that is hard to adequately describe. Years later I can still recall my overwhelming feelings of joy comparing the size of their fingers to mine even though the happiness index associated with each one of them has suffered a bumpy ride as they grow older.

I have been at places where I have seen small things being done that have had such a profound impact on some ones life. At one time I was a humanitarian worker building houses in a war zone. There it was very depressing yet I was able to see great pleasure being returned to people that had all but given up hope. One man who likened the event walking into his new home having the same impact on him as did the birth of his son. Another story concerned a very old man who sat me in a corner of the room and with tears in his eyes told me he could now die in peace knowing his family was taken care of.

We all have these moments in our lives and it is good to take time out every so often and reflect on them. Happiness can and does breed happiness, try it sometime.

Learn more about this author, Steve Hutcheson.
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