It is the time of year where all around us is dressed in holiday lights. It’s Christmas time. While this is a time for hope and a time for giving, there are people who do not share the same sentiment or find the same enjoyment for this time of year.
And I get it. . .
I really do.

It’s true. The world is a crazy place. Everyone is crazy. Then again, maybe this is a good thing, to be crazy, I mean.
Maybe crazy is only a relative term. That could be true.
I say crazy but when I do, I do not mean crazy in a derogatory sense or to demean or degrade us as certifiable.
I do not mean this as if to say that any of us are out of sorts, or worthy of a straightjacket, or in need of some quiet time in a rubber room.
Well . . . maybe sometimes.

This one here . . .
This one is from the heart.
So, by now, we have talked about finding the little things which make us happy.
We’ve talked about the greatest finds in our life, such as unexpected money in our pockets and other things like that. We talked about the unexpected pleasures of being reminded of happy times. We talked about love.
We talked about navigation and how to maneuver through this crazy life of ours.
Wild, isn’t it?

Ah, the Mother. There she is.
The Great Almighty, Mother Earth, The Universe, The Powers that be. Or, to whomever this may concern.
These are the hands of fate which sew the world, like eyelets to a shoe and bring us together. All of this is done through a vehicle which we call fate and destiny.
It’s all out there.

And when it rains, it pours. Or so I hear.
They say that the downpour should start soon, at least this is what the weatherman says.
We are supposed to expect high winds and heavy rains, which is fine for today.
No really, this is fine with me.

I was thinking about those little things again. Believe it or not, this is where happiness lives – in the little things.
These are the things that let you know when people are paying attention. You know because it’s the details people notice when they care for you. That’s me right now, selfish because of a feeling I have yet I’m smiling because it is me who thinks that perhaps giving a gift to someone you love is more mutual than we pay attention to.
To be clear, it’s not the big gifts or the expensive things that touch the heart. No, trust me – a small gift can lead to the biggest and most beautiful emotional responses ever.
I love that.

Perhaps the question I have isn’t so much as to ask how do we find happiness. Nor does the question become where do we look. However, and more valuable is the question that asks, how do we keep our pleasure center intact? How do we find rewards in unrewarding times?
I think this is important to talk about.

How do we feed our spirit on days when our motivation is low? Better yet, I will refer to a paraphrased quote from the first American Judo Championship gold medalist, AnnMaria Demars, who said, “You’re not training to be your best. You’re training to be your best on your worst day.”
I think this is brilliant.

There is one thing that I know in my heart, which is very simple. It is equally crazy yet this is all part of life.
The one thing I know is that at one point or another, we have to go crazy. I mean it. We have to go absolutely nuts.
We have to lose our minds at least a little bit or at least once. We have to do this every once in a while too, just to let off some steam, or to bring down the house, to go as absolutely wild, or at minimum, we have to allow ourselves the absolute dignity of being so out-of-hand and let ourselves go.
Whether we dance or sing or we howl or celebrate, I don’t care what we do or how this looks.
The truth is, life is short.
Times will be hard and by any means, there has to be a time and a place where we can be free enough to laugh out loud or scream at the top of our lungs.

I think about this –
There are more than 7 billion people in this world. I think about the craziest concept which is the fact that for whatever the reasons may be or in whichever way our paths have gone, somehow, here we are, connected by the directions of fate or destiny.
I think that’s wild.
I think about the hours and the days and the energies we have wasted on people, places or things that were not meant for us. I think we knew that somehow – something was not rightbyet we tried or we struggled. Or we accepted the unfitting challenges; or we accepted “what is” as if to be some common or norm and meanwhile, there is so much more out in this world.
Only, we never knew it.
We never believed that life could be anything other than what it is to us.

Forget the world for a moment. Forget the bills we have to pay.
Forget the taxes and the insurance, the rent, or the mortgage that’s due at the beginning of every month.
Forget the pile of things that weigh on your shoulders.
Forget about the bouts and the fights and the arguments and just for now, think about the one thing that makes you happy.

What is it?
What comes to mind?
I think this is a great question to ask.