All I really want, is to be Happy

I'm not sure how many are familiar with my title, which is a line from a Mary J Blige classic song, Happy. I know my music topic is not until next week, but I relate so much of my life to music, that I can't help that songs generally come to mind, when I am thinking about most subjects.

This week's topic refers to one of the theories in the Happiness Project, regarding the thought that people are the happiest doing what we loved when we were kids, say age 10.  Now I did have to do a little more research just to try and understand more of what the concept of the Happiness Project was, and I learned that it is a book that has been written on different theories of what makes one happy, with a corresponding website:  http://happiness-project.com.  What I read really piqued my interest, and I'm sure that I will be downloading the book to my kindle to get more details for my own personal interest.

First I wanted to just comment on whether I even agree with the theory about the correlation of happiness to one's childhood.  I think that it is definitely a correlation not only between childhood happiness and adult happiness, but I also believe that the happiness of those who may have had a rough childhood, directly depends on how they choose to overcome unhappy moments.  I believe that Tyler Perry is a great example of one who had a really rough childhood, filled with all types of abuse, and how he leaned on his faith in God to overcome and fuel his drive to become a successful actor, writer, and producer.

I was blessed to have an extremely happy childhood and I believe that I am generally a happy adult.  I believe that age 10 is a great age to reflect on, because, you're still a kid, but you are very aware of what is going on in the world, and how it affects your life at that moment.  In looking back at when I was 10, I can remember being blessed to have both parents in my household and growing up in a very spiritual environment, with my father being a minister.  I can remember that we did not have a lot of money at that time, and myself and 4 siblings, would do really creative things to entertain ourselves for cheap. 

Although I grew up in Indiana, we lived in Houston, TX for a few years, and age 10, was one of the years that we were actually living in Houston.  Although we may not have had a lot of money, my father was an excellent provider, and we were always blessed with the necessities of food to eat, clothes and shoes to wear, and shelter over our heads.  I can remember not really feeling that we were going without, except in the instances where we wanted some of the extras, such as going to the movies, or getting the latest shoes or outfit.  Around age 10, I can remember us learning about the concept of recycling, as we had a recycling bin that paid cash for recycled cans, in our neighborhood.  I can remember us saving up all of the cans within our household, and going to a local racetrack that was within walking difference from our home, and getting tons of cans from that location. 

It took my mom a little while to figure out how we were coming up with extra cash, and she shook her head once she learned that we were getting these cans from the racetrack, as she said that people probably thought that we were homeless digging through the trash for cans.  As a kid, that thought did not even enter our minds, we just saw dollar signs, as we would usually collect enough cash from recycling to get some of the extras that we desired, like go o to the local dollar movie theaters, and even be able to get snacks to go along with it.

When I look back on that experience, we were not sad, but happy that we found a way to get ourselves some of the extra things that we desired.   This thought process followed me into my adulthood, in that to this day, I always find creative ways to come up with extra cash when needed.  I also have a much better appreciation for money now, and have such a giving heart.  I have so much compassion for those that I see that go without, and am grateful to God that I can do what I can to help whenever possible.  Being able to give, is one of the most fulfilling feelings, and I really believe my childhood had a great affect on my mindset. 

The other decision that I can remember making at age 10, which greatly impacted my life,  is that this is when I received God into my life for myself. As I mentioned before, my father was and still is a minister, so there was always a spiritual aspect in our life.  My parents never forced us to be saved, however, I could see how through the good and bad, they always looked to God for everything.  At age 10, I was able to come to the decision for myself that I definitely wanted and needed God in my life.  Although, I did not always hold to my commitment that I made to God, it was by far the best and happiest decision that I made.  I do think that I avoided a lot of pitfalls and bad decisions that I could have made throughout my teenage years, that could have had me on a very different path.  I can admit that I didn't really understand and build my relationship with God until my adult years.  I definitely believe my initial acceptance help me be on a better path in life and greatly contributed to my childhood happiness which spilled over to my adult happiness.