Apparently yesterday was the world happiness day. The 5th world happiness day has now become history. Kinda silly, but maybe it is a good thing to have a look at your own state of being. Are you enjoying your time on earth? Do you have a short term reason to be unhappy? Or a short term reason to be happy?
Right now in my life I'm going to call my happiness level a B, maybe B+. Enjoying my work at Absolute Bikes. It's better for me physically, going from 100% desk time at work to 75+% standing and/or walking time. And it's better for me to be among the community, connecting to people and meeting new ones.
We've had a nice mild late winter. I've been bike riding a lot, and starting to feel like I'm in OK shape.
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| A day at Lake Pueblo State Park |
I have safety. Certainty, security about the future, confidence in our democracy, not so much. I don't usually put political content into this blog, but now I am. If you don't want to read it, you're welcome to click away now.
I'm staying in touch with the news, trying to avoid reading or watching content that comes from sources too far from the middle. Filtering. Because I know there's a lot of crap out there that seeks to influence me. I do not support our current government, and I'm quite certain that the outcome would have been different had there been no meddling by Russia. The transition of power, should it prove to be true that there was direct collusion between 45's campaign and the Russian state, is likely to be contentious. And possibly even violent.
But isn't it worse if we just let it go? Not because 45's politics differ from mine (which they most definitely do), but because we're supposed to be putting the people into office who've been selected by The People. Not Putin and his staff, but the American people.
I could go on and on and on. Like many people who are appalled by 45 and his bizarre behavior and hateful policies, I've got lots of words.
But how does this relate to happiness? If this fundamental external frustration vector exists, how can I possibly be scoring a B+? I mean, safety is the second level of Maslow's needs pyramid. Security and a belief in a safe future is part of that. That's what I'm writing about. Because, dunno. Maybe the current state of semi-chaos agrees with my worldview and I find some contentedness in that. Maybe it just doesn't matter since it's obviously beyond my control.
Or maybe it's all just pushing me to figure out how to enjoy today and now. Because tomorrow my health insurance may become un-affordable. Or the economy may tank because somebody is firing legions of government employees and monkeying around with trade agreements.
Whatever is causing this, I'm feeling grateful. Grateful for what we all currently have. Hoping against hope that things won't fall apart too badly.
