"Chasing Happiness That Lurks Around Us All"

 In my last post I stated that I would be bringing the shutters down on my public life and my blog. As the days passed the thought of deleting and ending this experiment would make me very sad. I hate being sad, it makes me ugly inside and out.

 This is why I am writing now about happiness, which despite the makings of being all around us and best of all free, we struggle the most in finding. As our lives mature and become more complex we find it harder to define and create our happiness. Just watch how two simple things makes  a child beam with happiness, a shovel and a sand box. Simple the ability to find simple things fun, and exploration of new experiences makes children happy. Why then do we all struggle?

 There are lots of reasons i believe, social pressure for social norms, our chase to be loved, and expectations on us created by media. I think these are common self talk we create that inhibits our easy of finding happiness;

• " If I had just some more money It would make it easier to be Happy" ( Yes money can free us to enjoy more things but it does not bring happiness only the veneer of happiness. I have seen some very very happy poor people.)
• "If I found that "one" love i would be happy". ( not true because a single person cannot make you happy)
• "If I was thinner, taller, shorter, less hairy, more hairy, prettier, etc. i would be happy". ( Whole unadulterated Cow Shit chasing these will drive us mad and make us miserable. Taking pride in how you look goes along way to making one feel better but chasing ideals does not)

I am a happy man and enjoy it, yes I have plenty of reasons not to be yet I am still a fairly happy person. Sometimes jaded, odd, crusty yes. But in reality I am sweet, sensitive and kind. I love people and seeing them makes me happy. I roam the world in my life like a kid in a huge sand box with a shovel. I allow my self to feel, I communicate with others how i feel as well. These also make me happy. I hold doors at stores open for people just because, I take interest in people when they speak this too can bring you happiness thru listening .
 I have experienced true Love more than once, this has filled me, lifted me up and allowed me to see happiness all around me. I can now experience sadness knowing that I can find happiness when I need it. Today I am the luckiest man on earth & a happy one knowing that, I have happy people, friends, family around me. Who always remind me in the most glorious ways that happiness is everywhere like air....
 I will end this post in this statement. "I feel that the biggest destroyer of happiness is complacency, the world offers us so much if we are not complacent."

Follow your hearts a little more than your minds and seek joy!!!!

Steven

Day 4 NaBloMo "Why I Love Social Media"

 I hear from alot of my friends, "Steve why do you love Twitter, Blogs & Facebook so Much?"
I have thought alot about it. I have been an internet geek for a while my first browser was mosaic and I remember when internet media high tech were animated gifs. I never lost interest in the net and it still holds me captive by it's ability to allow people to share their pain, joy, humor, craziness and stupidity.
 Once we trolled chat rooms asking A/S/L and flavicons. Alot of us suffered the horrors what was AOL and could tell how fast our connection would be by the sounds our modem made when we connected.

 Now it the number one place for news, shopping naked, booking vacations. and porn of staggering varieties. But the changing force to me has been both twitter and facebook. Social media allows us to bypass the cacophony of noise we do not want to hear and allows us to connect with people who we want to listen to. It brings people together, lets us know we are not alone in our own thoughts.
  Recently I have discovered how true this is, as this week I discovered that I have cancer. I announced it to the world on Twitter and Facebook. I was blown away by the support of people who have never met me yet took the time to offer support. People who also share the good things of social media as place to find people who think like you. I have virtually met some amazing people. like Monica Hamburg who shares my inerests in the weirder side of the web, or Beth Snow who i learned is a DR, plays hockey, names her material items. Or Kimli who loves games, has horrible people who live below her and also names her material items. Or Gus Greeper a fellow lover of sock monkeys. I have thru blogs or twitter  virtually met some of the most interesting people i could imagine. I am grateful for these people in my online life they bring me smiles, laughter joy and encouragement. They redefine my love of people and belief that we can be kind unselfish and still stop to enjoy the little wackiness in the world. The internet is not  a lonely place. Or a place for lonely people It is a place for rich, dynamic people to share ideas and hopefully change the world. I know this is a ramble but i needed to post today for NaBloPo and i am on some serious painkillers........