Happiness Discovery

What makes you happy?

I am happy when I am with my children, when I am successful at work, when I am excercising, when I am watching a sunrise or sunset or sitting on a beach and the tide is rolling in.  I am happy taking photos of nature.  There are so many things that make me happy.  Crawling into bed after a long day and the covers are just the right temperature.  Being up in the mountains and hiking a trail, or remembering being on a snowmobile, or racing my car really fast. Running early in the morning with my music blaring in my ears and no one is bothering me. Being so engrossed in a book that time doesn't exist. 

When I was in the mormon church, I was told there was only one way to be happy.  That one way for a woman consisted of being married, having lots of children, staying home, cleaning house and being submissive to her husband.  I did not desire these things, but since I was told this was the only way to be happy (even though I was not unhappy and quite liked my life and felt happy and fulfilled without these things) I did what I was told.  The more I embrassed these things, I discovered the more unhappy I became.  I thought I was doing something wrong.  I thought there was something wrong with me.

After 20 years of being very, very unhappy, I left this myth of happiness behind, left the mormon church, got a divorce, got a job... and discovered happiness.

I discovered that there are many roads to happiness, one organization does not hold a corner on happiness, they cannot tell everyone how to be happy.  This is a road that each individual must discover for themselves.

I am so happy I discovered happiness before I died.