What Makes You Happy?

(take your time)

(it may have been a while since you really thought of what inspires joy in your life)

Last night, a friend invited friends over to the LakeHouse, a home he shares with a bunch of other guys, for dinner and to meet his folks.  He, in his typical way, made it easy to relax and enjoy the meal.  After meeting his folks, I understand how he has that gift of easy welcoming - that universal appeal.  As if dinner wasn't enough...there were s'mores and a fire pit and nuts falling from the trees and a stretching moon reflected on the lake.  Joy.  

This morning, I woke and thought of the ease of last night's good company and what a merry band of cast and crew and a good fire means; pure joy.  Happiness.  And is my custom in this post-running-with-Katie-at-5 am-existence, I curled up and read the news off of my phone (very squinty-like) and learned that the King of Bhutan has married.  The photo included on the headline was colorful and like any other crow, color and shiny things attract my attention so I clicked it. Bhuddist chants, a childhood friend, waves of color, a tiny monarchy, and Bhutan's unique Gross National Happiness index were all part of the story.

WHOA!  Gross National Happiness?  What a concept!  I still have to dig in and look at the scholarly articles (yes, there are plenty) and the Bhutanese MTV videos (there are plenty of those, too) to get a handle on it, but in the meantime, I'm asking you to jump into the conversation.

What makes you happy?

What would Gross National Happiness look like to you?

Bonus Question:  Are you willing to help lift others - or really help others lift themselves - towards "happiness"?

Warning:  there is a lot of fluff out there in the serious business of Happiness and a lot of bull hockey.  I'll do my best to be true and scholarly and hopeful on this dive into the prized, misunderstood, often idolized, and very elusive "Happiness."  You're invited on this trek & feel free to toss in your own findings.  This is really a "participant's" blog.   Dialogues are much more compelling (& fun!) than monologues.

A few optional resources for your consideration:

Of course Rich Mullins & his hammer dulcimer is going to play into this:

My One Thing off his "Never Picture Perfect" CD

Five Reliable Findings from Happiness Research