Inside Job

I felt sad today when someone criticized Elizabeth Smart for sharing her video on choosing happy after her ordeal of being kidnapped.  It was an awesome video that she shared but the person making the complaint expressed that it was 'easy' for her since she had support from family and friends.  The reply I wish I had written but didn't because I pointed out the uselessness of comparison instead,

Dear complainer,

Happiness is an inside job.  A person can have no trauma, family and community support and still be unhappy.  Happiness is not about circumstances or the people around you.  Those things influence but I learned from reading both Viktor Frankl Man's Search for Meaning  https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2782.Viktor_E_Frankl
And Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place
https://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Place-Triumphant-Story-Corrie/dp/0553256696

that even in the most wretched places people found hope, happiness, and a reason to live.

Begrudging Elizabeth her happiness will do nothing to improve your own and does not diminish her progress.  Like crabs in a pot, pulling others down does nothing to rescue you out of your mess.

I am not going to say the journey to happiness is an easy one.  I don't believe that it can be turned off and on like a light switch or if you can you might be dealing with severe dissociation.  What I do believe it is something we learn to see, create and share.  If pursued exclusive to all else, it is never found.  Happiness to me is a byproduct of living a life filled with sharing, caring, creating, and serving.  It is built on resolving past hurts.  It can be accomplished in the most wretched places.  Betsy, Corrie Ten Boom's sister, asked her to thank God for the fleas.  Corrie was dismayed but grudgingly thanked God for the fleas.  At a later time, Corrie learned that the guards for the most part left their barracks alone because of the fleas. Betsy had a gift for finding happiness in the most unlikely places.  I'm not an expert on happiness, depression dogs me most days.  What I learned painfully and thoroughly, happiness does not come from someone or something else.  It is not a thing to be found tucked under a rock.  It is not required for living.  It is not what many people expect it to be.  It is sometimes fun but many times linked with sadness and grief.  The light shining through the clouds is my best description of happiness to me.