Content

I may have said it before, but I think there might be a simpler way to find happiness than most people realize.  Happiness is certainly a fleeting thing, but the quality of a person's life determines how frequently it comes along, and that is ultimately how a person judges how "happy" he or she is on average.  That is to say, that even though happiness in general fades quickly, if a person shortens the intervals between periods of happiness that he or she experiences they are more likely to say that they are happy overall.

That came out a bit jumbled, but that's not the point.  The point is that happiness is not hard to achieve, but it is difficult to maintain.  Perhaps the key to being more happy in life is to find more contentment with the things you do have rather than the things you want.  I am guilty of many things, but one of my biggest flaws is that I am so often envious of the things that other people have.  It's easy to envy someone for making more money, or for having a nicer house than you do.  On the other hand, it's more difficult to appreciate the things you have that others might be envious of. 

People always say to think about how much worse things could be, but that feels so empty.  Instead, I like to think that the gifts the universe gives us are too precious to be so easily ignored.  I'm thankful every day for the fact that my children are happy, and for the roof over our heads.  Still, it takes a lot to overlook the bad in favor of the good.  Hardship is sometimes opressive to the point of being overpowering.  It's like a black hole that sucks the light out of everything decent.