Happiness…
Greeting dear friends & fellow navigators, welcome to my world this weekend. Following on from my last article, I have been pondering this last week, the topic of how productivity affects many. Conversely, how does one evaluate these outcomes & feelings on ourselves?
So my thoughts lead me to if we are just waiting for happiness ~ or a simplification in life… However, I do not think happiness is big, or infinite at all. I think real happiness exists in the quiet, in the small things. In a morning cup of coffee, in the sound of the voice from a mother. I think real happiness is believing you are meant to be here, you are meant to take up space.
I also think real happiness is finding the human beings who take care of you ~ not in a materialistic way, but rather, finding those who take care of your soul, those who truly see you. I think real happiness is all around you, at all times, pinned & blooming in the things you stopped paying attention to because you were always searching for more. The intensity in the air when you meet someone & you know they are going to change your life. The way your stomach flips when you hear your favourite song, or when you hold the person who fills you with the sunniest kind of hope.
In the quiet corners of a library or the cozy confines of a well-worn armchair, you find another dimension of happiness through the pages of a book. Books are keys to worlds unexplored, granting solace & wisdom, connecting you with characters who understand your journey. Then, there is the art of conversations with strangers, those chance encounters & can rewrite the story of your life. Each person you meet, a chapter in your own narrative, painting life with vibrant stories & unexpected connections.
I do not think happiness is something you find, or alternatively it is this destination you get to where you are bulletproof & unaffected by the mayhem. No, I think happiness exists in finding things which make us feel known, special, & at peace in this world, no matter how small they feel, & letting them save us. Happiness exists in learning how to embrace the dark, in learning how to see it as the very thing making us appreciate the light.
I read the following story this week, & it gave me a happy feeling, I hope it does for you too: Charles Plumb was a pilot in Vietnam. After seventy-five combat missions, his plane was demolished by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected, parachuted into enemy hands & spent the next six years in a Communist prison. He survived the ordeal & now lectures on what he learned from his experience.
One day when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man from another table walked over & said, ‘You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!’ Plumb said, ‘How in the world did you know that?’ The man replied, ‘I packed your parachute.’ Then the man grabbed his hand & said, ‘I guess it worked!’ Plumb assured him it had: ‘If your chute had not worked, I would not be here today.’ That night he could not sleep, wondering about the man. What had he looked like in a Navy uniform? How many times had he seen him without even asking, ‘How are you?’ ~ or anything else ~ because Plumb was a fighter pilot & the other man was only a sailor. He pondered the many hours the sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship,
meticulously weaving the shrouds & folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands the destiny of a stranger. As a result, Plumb routinely asks his audience an important question: ‘Who is packing your parachute?’
All of us have someone who provides what we need to make it through the day. Who helps you?
Today show them your appreciation. 1
May you find happiness as pure & boundless as the innocent laughter of a child, echoing through the deepest chambers of your heart?
Just few observations again dear friends, & provide merely an opinion in my world. Thank you again for stopping by, I appreciate your being here. If my journey encourages you also, all is well with my soul. I hope your days are filled with love & affection. Looking forward to being back next week; this is Kenn Butler in Paradise, Nelson with best wishes.
kenn@kennbutler.com
1 Bob & Debby Gass @ Radio Rhema Word for Today ~ Thursday July 17
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