Happiness can’t be defined by one thing. The emotion lives in little meaningful moments, long expanses of time, short sentences in thought. There are all these things in my every day that make me gape, wide mouthed, spread lips, Joker smile. They come across me by happenstance if I’m lucky, by force if I’m in need of cheer.
I can’t tell you why these items uplift me, only how they make me feel, that they exist. The moments give me a religion I don’t otherwise believe in. They tell me the world has my back. They make each day beautiful…
- Revolving doors must be spun around. Always. Even when provided with other options. Why walk straight when you can twirl? Once, twice, even three times, I circle until depositing myself into the stillness of space.
- There is this pocket of wind, a corner to be precise, where the air moves in gusts. My hair waves like Medusa, my face is burnt from the blow. I feel relevant and alive, there in the world at the intersection of West Georgia and Howe.
- Dancing is a no brainer. Music is sandblasted into time, stopping it from moving. The beat drums down my legs, up my spine, through my arms. I am a sea creature moving to the tide. I feel like I could multiply. A Gremlin soaked in water, duplicates popping from my fur. There is nothing else when dancing. Existence is clear, environment is blurry.
- The musty smell that escapes from the pages of a used-book shop loosen my limbs and slow my heart. Any sorrow turns to dust, falling onto hardcovers like flaked skin.
- Masterfully walking in a pair of high heels. This is an accomplishment worth jumping for joy and is only met when running or lunges have been practiced. Steady. Solid. Secure. I’ll leap across a puddle, navigate cobblestones. I am Indiana Jones in stilettos.
- Finding that sheet of sun on a cracked sidewalk. So warm, the weeds between the concrete wrap around my legs, growing to please the yellow light.
- Moving pictures. Cinema. Film. From the first second of preview to the last minute of rolling credits. I walk out of the darkness in a daze, filled with ideas and awe and hope. I don’t walk on the earth, I float above it. Cars and pedestrians pass me by as though they themselves are on a screen, not real. Only I am there. In my own secret world. Where anything is possible.
- Driving with the top down, accelerator pushed to the floor, hair trailing like a weather balloon. I’m not driving, I am passenger to the speed. My head drops limply back and the wind awakens my dreams.
- A friend who calls unexpectedly on the actual telephone. Yes, voice to voice, finger-free. And almost even better than this is the voicemail when I can’t answer – the sound of a lovingly rambling friend leaving me a message is divine. This is also right up there with those near-forgotten relics called letters. I could kiss the postman for placing one in my mailbox.
- And while kissing is in the air… just the thought of a lip lock is enough to fizz up my blood.
- The kindness of strangers gets me every time. A simple hello. Holding open a door. Witnessing an exchange between a parking patroller and a noble citizen who offers to feed the expired meter of an unknown individual. Seriously. That shit happens.
And there are dozens, hundreds, several more obscure and random moments of happiness that could fill a book of pleasure. I’m getting all sentimental and gushy now. It was bound to happen. But one last one… smiling and happiness is catching. If I see another smiling to themselves, I smile to myself. If someone smiles at me, I smile back. A smile is the most desirable infection to be caught.
These precious particles of life are what truly make me smile. Not likes, not follows, not retweets. Although nice and reaffirming (I will be honest), they aren’t substance. The secret to happiness is interaction with the world. The secret is in finding the moments that make you smile. Because once you come upon one, you’ll see them all.<
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