What could be more satisfying than having a sense of being happy all the time?

July 15, 2016

Is it possible?
While the pursuit of happiness has been sought after forever, perhaps it is not as elusive as we have thought. The idea of finding happiness suggests that it is elsewhere, that we are lacking it somehow.

From Paramahansa Yogananda

I imagine that many of us have read the book Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda at some point in our lives. A friend of mine turned me onto it long ago and I have read it three times, as I recall. It’s an inspiring book to be sure.
One quote from Paramahansa seemed to be so powerful and hopeful:
Make up your mind that you will be happy whether you are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, happily married or unhappily married, young or old, smiling or crying. Don’t wait for yourself, your family, or your surroundings to change before you can be happy within yourself. Make up your mind to be happy within yourself, right now, whatever you are, wherever you are.

My pen and ink drawing

I came upon it again recently, and it inspired this drawing. As you can see, my ink drawing is a light-hearted exploration of forms. There are plant-like forms, possibly a sun, maybe stars, undecipherable writing, shells and more. It is titled Happiness Happens When You Forget Yourself.

The final color version

I have been creating colored versions of some of my ink drawings, this one was chosen to finish in that way. While basically a flat image, I have used gradations of color to give some variation to all the flat color fields.

further thoughts

In my view, happiness tends to be about things in our lives. We are happy about something, a new partner, a raise, a vacation. Take that away and our sense of happiness may follow.
Since we humans have a physical self, an emotional self, and a mental self, I am of the belief that happiness has a strong emotional component to it. Joy, on the other hand, seems to be deeper, more lasting. I believe therefore joy has a stronger mental component to it, an acceptance of things as they are in a larger, more expansive way. More immediate circumstances would not therefore disturb the wellbeing of joy like they most likely would a sense of happiness.