Happines is a bowl full of cherries...

My friend CZ posted the following quote on her blog:

"Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy." ~Aristotle.

I don't do anger well. Growing up with a father for whom anger seemed to be a natural state of being, my ability to express anger is tainted by my past experience. Anger doesn't end. Anger is ugly. Anger hurts. Anger is too emotional.

Don't do being emotional that well either, come to think of it.

Being emotional is like my mother. Often sad. Often teary-eyed. Often depressed.

So, what does that leave me?

A state of flux. A confused box of emotional tools I parade around on different occasions.

Do happy. Yup. I do happy well.

"Hi! Life is grand." Smile. "I'm terrific." Smile some more.

Happy is a habit. Happy is a safe place for me to be. Happy makes me happy.

French philosopher and writer, Albert Camus wrote, "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life."

So, here's to no longer looking for the 'right' emotion. Here's to expressing my emotions through the happiness of knowing, I'm okay, whatever I'm feeling.

Here's to expressing anger in appropriate ways that do not undermine or devalue the other person. Here's to expressing anger in the moment, without fear the moment will last forever.

Nothing lasts forever, not even anger.

Happiness, however, is always within my reach when I quit struggling to define it, analyze it, or contain it.

It's cloudy today. And still I'm happy. I'm living in a bowl full of cherries, spitting out the pits.

The world outside is lush. Green invades. The scent of flowers in bloom tease my senses with heady aromas.

Life is good.

I don't need the definition of happiness to know I'm feeling it, right now, in this moment.

And when anger comes, as it sometimes will, or sadness seeps into my thinking, I'll be okay too. Like the sun behind the swollen grey clouds above, happiness is a constant, even when anger roars or sadness rains upon my parade.

The question is: How willing are you to let your emotions flow confident in your ability to stay grounded in the truth that life is what you make it, a bowl full of cherries, or a bowl of pits? Which will you choose today?