Solo Mother

Happiness is…

by christina on August 17th, 2008

What is happiness to you, single mother?

There’s a fascinating book coming out in 2009 — The Happiness Project

Gretchen Rubin has spent some time examining happiness, and the pursuit of, from every which way, and might have some suggestions on how to achieve it. I know that personally, I am happiness when I am in the Now, without concern about the future or the past. When I’m sitting at my potter’s wheel, immersed in a project, I know only the clay beneath my hands. When I am deep in a design or a writing assignment at work, I’m in my element. When I’m baking a cake or playing Hotwheels with my son, I am at peace.

It’s only in the going and the doing and the transition from one thing to the next, anticipating next week, next month, next year, that my smile begins to falter. What if? How will I? In the daily rush of getting there on time, doing well, achieving, excelling, living up to expectations real and imagined, I’m always failing the perfectionist in me. Perhaps this is why I spend so much emotional coin on the value of a smooth pebble for a passenger in the front pocket of my jeans… Something simple, solid, present, real, to hang my flighty hopes upon. A slight weight, but enough to anchor me to the present. All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.

Perhaps we all need our own Happiness Project: an opportunity to listen to our stillest heart and chase a dream, make someone happy, too.

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