It is to the best of my understanding that there has never been anyone in the world who can say or claim that they have either monopolized or cornered the market on happiness.
With that being said, I do believe that happiness is a craft. It takes work. In fairness to ourselves and to our own lives as we relate to the world and all the jazz we have to face, or at minimum, with all that we encounter or deal with on a daily basis, we have to understand that life is not a work-free environment.
Not at all. In fact, life is quite the contrary.
Nothing worthwhile comes easy – or so they say.
No one walks onto a field at practice and automatically becomes an expert.
This is a process and so is happiness. 

I can’t help or hide the fact that yes, I’m crazy.
There’s no question about this. However, instead of complaining, shhh –
Be quiet –
I’m trying to learn how to enjoy this!

Life changes. This happens all the time. And I think back to the things that used to be important to me. I think about the fads and the different fashions. Sometimes, I look back or I’ll see a photograph of either the fads or the fashions from back in the day.
I’ll either shake my head or I’ll laugh or I’ll think to myself, “What the hell was I thinking?”
What the hell was I wearing?
It’s amazing though. It’s amazing how the rebellions of my youth have all faded away like an old handwritten note from middle school.
If I think about it, some of my old rebellions take on appeal of an old page from a newspaper, yellowed with age, and brittle to the touch.
But me? I don’t want to be brittle to the touch.

I saw an old photograph the other day. I found it –
It is the simple laws of attraction. What am I attracted to? Or, would we say why?
How did my life take on this kind of shape?
It’s a question I wondered after seeing this photograph.
And here it is, November . . .
Families are about to sit down at a table – soon enough and to give thanks for Thanksgiving. 

I have seen people offer themselves to either an unfair gamble or the trade for a lesser value. I have watched as people either flushed their lives away or suffered through a tried forfeit because they either never believed in themselves or they never believed that their dreams could be real.
And sure –
I get it. This is all fear based. And as for the gamble, that’s okay. You took a risk. You gave it a shot, which is fine. You put something on the line in hopes that your desired outcome would come true. But there’s a difference between a gamble and a sucker’s bet.
I get that. However, I do support what it takes to “give it a shot” and take a risk.
I admire this too.

This note is a means to find that thing we have always been looking for and yet – it was always where it was supposed to be, which is right here. Right in front of us.
Right before our very eyes yet – we’ve looked everywhere just to find this one, simple thing.

I call this self . . .

And you have to laugh, at least this is what I hear people tell me.
You have to laugh because otherwise, what’s the alternative?
Misery? What else is there?
Resentment?

In other words, perhaps there’s a choice to make here –
happiness or misery?
Which one do you choose?

We all know about misery and how misery loves company.
So you laugh or at least you try.
You laugh because what else can you do?

I am a working man. I have been on both sides of the collar. To make this a bit more clear, I have worked both white and blue collar jobs. I have dressed in suits and uniforms. I have traveled for work. I have been contracted. I have been on both the fair and unfair sides of the working world. Yes, I can understand the grief which comes when you open up your paycheck and see how much the government partners with us and unfairly I might add. So yes, I pay my taxes too. And then some.
I have been known to be busy enough to run into myself at the door. I have fit the description of what it means to burn the candle at both ends. I’ve spread myself too thin. I have seen the ups and downs of personal and financial  problems.
So yes, I am a very real person. 

I think that before we move forward, it pays for us to look back and see where happiness began.
Where does this come from? Does this begin with our youth?
Think about it.
Did happiness begin when we learned songs in nursery school?
Remember?

And so –
Today is a new day. The sun might not be shining right now. But that doesn’t mean the sun isn’t there.
Right?
Of course, it’s there. We know it is.
And, of course, today is a new day.
Of course . . .
But life?

Hey. life is happening.
Always.