The Virtue of Happiness

"Being happy is a virtue too."

-- Ludwig Bourne

Some days you wake up beaming, ecstatic, full of light. But for me, at least, those days are the exception not the rule. More often I wake up to a clean slate, at best, a dark, cold pit, at worst. And I'm a "morning person!" 

On those days when grace does not grant early morning euphoria, happiness is not a gift but a choice. We get to choose the emotional tenor of our day, and I'd like to suggest that happiness is not only the virtuous, but also the wise, choice. 

Why? Because the happiness virus is positively contagious! It influences both your own health and the moods and views of the people all around you. Even on the days when happiness is not gifted to you by good genes, great grace, or the powers that be, you can choose to give the gift of happiness to your self and others. And there are two direct roads to this joyous state.

The first route is to get outside of yourself. Shun your less than cheery emotional state and look all around you for signs of hope. The beauty of nature, the laughter of children, old comedy movies or CD's, good friends, good books -- the list goes on and on. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple to find out that there are dozens, scores, perhaps even hundreds, of things to be happy about. It's all a matter of focus.

The second royal road to happiness is to go within. Deep within. Go beyond your momentary struggles, doubts, and disappointments to that clearing in your psyche where the current of life flows. In Hindu philosophy the essence of life is described as "sat-chit-ananda." Truth, consciousness, bliss. Find the blissful stream and bathe in it, let it permeate your soul and bring the healthy glow of Spirit to your eyes, to your skin.

It's like the old In & Out Burger slogan -- "In and out, in and out, that's what it's all about!" You can choose to go within yourself to the substratum of  happiness that underlies all of life. Or you can choose to go outside yourself to experience the incredible manifestations of happiness that flourish all around you. 

The virtue of happiness is in choosing not to stay stuck in the funk of negative emotion. The wisdom of happiness is in seeing that all unhappiness merely masks a deeper, exuberant reality. It is you, oh virtuous one, dear wise one, who holds the power. May you wield it with love.