Happiness is motion
The saying, if you are not growing you are dying, is over used. And yet, for most of us it rings true at some point.
Growth is doing new things, or changing something slightly. It’s taking steps towards some change. The dying part, is more about stagnation, not moving towards anything.
Depression, for me, is about the stagnation and the resistance making me feel as though motion is unattainable. That any step I take is still where I am.
Growth can come from motion in many directions. And so being happy is not about where are, but where you are headed.
This sounds like it is against the idea of being in the moment. It isn’t because being in the moment, is not being in the past or future. The fear is the future, and the resentment is the past. So being in the moment, is not being in those places. Allowing the feelings of those places to wash over you and then be gone, allows you to see the line of thinking that will set you in the motion to be happy.
This explains why some of the happiest people say that it’s all about being in the moment. What they mean is, not getting caught up in what they didn’t do, and what they fear. Taking actions in spite of that, by putting all that out of their mind.
Ever reached a goal, only to realize the reward didn’t feel that great?
The work leading up, was way more of the fun than the achievement. It was motion, reaching it is an end of that.
The easiest example of this if you haven’t experienced it is, children’s birthday parties. The kid who’s 3rd birthday it is, almost always ends up crying and upset. They were worked up for this day for weeks, maybe even months. Then it’s just not as awesome to be there. And then they are tired from not sleeping properly, and 1 little thing backfires and it’s full on tantrum.
Maybe it’s lack of sleep, maybe it’s happiness expressed as motion, coming to end, and the kid isn’t old enough to process it.
I know for me, someone who is greatly older than 3, birthdays aren’t always the funnest days of the year. They spark lots of mixed thoughts about life and death, legacy and choices.
How can you today, make a motion, even a small one towards something?