There are some moments in life in which a sudden self-awareness of happiness hits - a moment in which you step back from yourself and realize that, in that instant, everything is good. A feeling of your consciousness pulling away to make an emotional snapshot of that moment to care for and examine like one would a wounded bird or a nugget of gold.
While I don’t consider my life as a unhappy one, I only have a few of these moments guarded away. The first being at around age 6. My parents were giving me a group hug while we were all singing a family lullaby. My mother was expecting my baby brother at the time and that was the first time the baby’s name was included in the song. I remember feeling detached and floating away while taking in the moment.
The last time I experienced it I had just finished changing the sheets on a new king bed I splurged on after a small windfall. I remember laying on the bedspread and my 2yr old pup hopping on to play around the newly made bed. Instead of ushering him off as I usually did, I just watched him mess up the bedspread.
(I know happiness is not a fixed concept and everyone can have their own definition and experiences, but given my ignorance of the specific word to refer to the instant moment of self-awareness described, I just went with it)
Curious to read your thoughts and experiences.
I’d recommend reading The Power Of Now. Its actually life changing. If this book replaced all religions, I bet we would have close to a utopia overnight.
The premise is simple, and you highlighted it in your stories. There is nothing but the Now. Dwelling on the bad past is pain. The worry of the future is pain. There can be no joy in either. All you ever have is the Now.
It takes mind training to get into that mindset, but its truly freeing. There’s no sky daddy. No misogonyst racist preachers. Its just You, Life, and Now.
And I am not some hippy dippy person who thinks energy crystals make you younger. I’m a wrencher and a PC nerd and I don’t do yoga. But I definitely recommend that book to everyone.
When i ate that tasty mango yesterday,at 10pm
Made me think of Vonnegut’s prologue to Slapstick:
"I have had some experiences with love, or think I have, anyway, although the ones I have liked best could easily be described as “common decency.” I treated somebody well for a little while, or maybe even for a tremendously long time, and that person treated me well in turn. Love need not have had anything to do with it.
Also: I cannot distinguish between the love I have for people and the love I have for dogs.
When a child, and not watching comedians on film or listening to comedians on the radio, I used to spend a lot of time rolling around on rugs with uncritically affectionate dogs we had. And I still do a lot of that. The dogs become tired and confused and embarrassed long before I do. I could go on forever.
Hi ho."
I honestly cannot remember.
Yesterday, on my bike, feeling the warm sun on my skin again after a long winter.
I know feeling the sun is pure bliss after a long winter. It’s astounding how universal this experience is, as if there’s a biological reason for it. One of the ways it’s amazing to me is that it’s a feeling you can imagine sharing with practically at some moment with every other human being in history. Regardless of their location, status, or moment in time; it’s a common part of humanity (possibly even with some types of animals).
Thank you for sharing.
Oh god yes!
I know it’s not the type of answer you’re looking for, but I felt a moment of communal joy reading your story and all the other replies here. Thanks for sharing and helping bring that out in others, op. Love you.
Today. I woke up.
Thank you for this.
Before looking into psychology or (god forbid) reactionary existentialism:
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potassium (your multivitamin does not have this, supplements are generally inadequate, check the label you will be shocked, get powder online)
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magnesium (ditto but also “magnesium oxide” causes gastric issues and is NOT ABSORBED so trust the label even less, when you look online get glycinate)
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25-50g of fiber. easiest + cheapest if you live in an unhealthy supermarket area without cheap veggies is psyllium husk, powdered peanut butter (WITH NO ADDED SUGARS!! use in savory dishes), wheat bran, and dried vegetable mixes you can buy from asia
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lift weights AND do long very fast walks for posture + eyes. engage your core muscles while you walk
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100-300g (yes, 300, but we will never be that ripped now without roids lol, 250 tops prolly, and obv you need some short (protein powders) and long (yogurt, egg whites, meat) chains otherwise you will be too full, beware of doing this with beans sorry) of protein depending on physique. limit fat intake. no sugars. complex carbs and proteins burn 30% of calories as heat, that activity fuels your digestive microbiota.
just a good bedrock before mindset and medication, also look into tianeptine. trust me this will improve your mood enough to realistically gauge what to do next this is foolproof numerous people have told me it works and any doctor should back me up.
oh, and eat fish! so much fish! omega 3s really do work over time. also eat as many plants rich in random antiinflammatory compounds as possible (they taste good, berries are fiber nukes and they are just packed with anticancer stuff)
Hey just wanted to point out this about tianeptine.
" It has been found to act as an atypical agonist of the μ-opioid receptor with clinically negligible effects on the δ- and κ-opioid receptors."
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A recent weekend event - it was just my son and myself that weekend and I decided to take him to a cultural event in our city. As we were walking home after filling our bellies with food truck chicken and watching the lion dancers, he interrupted our silence with “Mom, I love going to street fairs with you.”
I could’ve held on to that moment forever.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful moment.
Today. It was a sunny day, I was back at the office after a couple of miserable sick days, I had good food. I was happy, or maybe very content is more accurate. Although happiness is pretty much my default setting.
That’s a nice description. I would say for me, it’s when I’m not afraid or worried about everything all the time. These occasions happen, thankfully, but not too often. And sometimes through out the day.
1988
Two weeks ago. It comes and goes.
I’ve been a bit overworked lately and that’s made me feel numb generally. Then of course there’s the news… I’m very not happy with the world at the moment.
Same man, I’ve been working so much lately and feel like I need a break
Yeah I did a lot of overtime last week. A lot.
My brain is still baked.
I don’t normally but sometimes that’s needed, just usually I get time off after and I don’t have that luxury at the moment.
The first, strongest, and longest lasting moment like this I can recall is when I was 15 and homeless and a friend snuck me in to sleep on their floor. I felt safe and understood and accepted in a way I never had before and all too rarely have since. It’s still a moment I escape to sometimes when circumstances are rough and I can’t change them. Not the food or the games or the teen romance, just laying there in the dark knowing that everything was (and could actually be) ok. That a better world was possible, so to speak. That I wasn’t alone.
I mean not the last time but as I look back over my life there is this point in time where my wife and I lived in the city in a neighborhood just out city center in a two flat. I worked at a research university and while the pay was low it had benefits and we could pay our monthly nut. It was 3 miles away and I could walk, bike, or take the bus. I would often walk in the morning and my wife would take the dog and there was this park about a mile or so away and we would have a little kiss goodbye and I would keep going to work while she walked the dog through the park and back home. We could spur of the moment grab food from close by places or any grocery item we wanted by walking. It was glorious. The lab I worked in was a research lab and interesting as heck on a day to day basis and collaborated globally. We had folks from japan practically every other summer doing research as well as many eurpean companies. Oh also my wife and I were barely in our thirties. it was sweet.
