The Art of Happiness

As J.D. Taylor, a little-known poet, once wrote, "Without passion, nothing moves." One of the biggest and most fought about factors between couples is money. My favorite adage is "Money can't buy happiness." I urge you to tell that to a married couple to judge their response.

But, truth be told, money is a small factor. In fact, the dynamics of a relationship depend on a person's response to those factors. If either person does not keep a perspective on things, it would be very easy to be self-deceptive, thereby causing a fight or "rift," if you will, between the would-be happy couple.

Dr. Albert Ellis, a cognitive-behavioral psychologist, once said that no one makes us angry. How we respond to a situation or a person is what makes us angry. In a sense, only we ourselves can illicit an emotional response (angry, happy, sad, etc.), not our environment or those within it. It might be difficult to keep our emotions or thoughts in-check, but if we do, we can moderate, to some degree, our emotional responses that influence our lives both negatively and positively.

And this is true not just for couples. As the saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff." Age, sex, religion, politics--those are all byproducts or attributes of what we are first and foremost: human. If we accept, acknowledge, and encourage that, I think we have an immeasurable potential to be not only happy but also content with how and who we are at any phase or stage in our lives.

Thoughtful,
Kris