Ordinary pleasure, extraordinary happiness

An editorial in Psych Today points out that simple things make people happy.

Imagine that!

We don’t need big parties, windfalls of cash, mention in the newspaper, or fancy titles to feel content. Company with a friend, a peaceful evening at home, a hike in the woods, a new idea, top the list of many people’s ideals when it comes to feeling happy.

Simple pleasures, profound impact.

I don’t agree with all the conclusions of the Psych Today editors, especially concerning the use of chemicals, but there are glimpses and glimmers of spiritual reality in their conclusion that happiness is not humanly willed into existence. It’s often comes as a very subtle presence that needs to be cherished, honored and protected.

Here's some of what they wrote...

“… we have taken it upon ourselves here at Psych Today to
maintain a Happiness watch.

Here's where the cutting edge comes in. We have detected a subtle shift. North America's leading researchers on happiness report that the elusive quarry is so cloaked in ordinariness it might easily be mistaken nowadays. Ordinary pleasures are the workhorses of happiness. They keep us going day to day. When it comes to happiness, our experts agree, there's no Big Bang. You can't stage manage it by orchestrating great occasions. It's more like grass on city streets. It crops up between the cracks; you have to take care not to trample it.

… Or as that Fourth-of-July guy, Carl Sandburg, might have said, happiness comes in on little cat feet.

Listen and look for the “little cat feet” today!