I recently went a few verbal rounds with someone who asserted that my sunny outlook, my being decidedly optimistic (as in I decide to be optimistic) meant that the happiness I experience was artificial, synthetic, not to be valued.
His assertion was that true happiness was that great feeling that sneaks up on you when you’re doing something really fun or being with someone really great.
I don’t doubt that that is true. I just assert that it isn’t the only way to experience happiness. You needn’t wait for happiness to sneak up on you. You can search it out, you can sneak up on it.
And happiness isn’t only derived from things you describe as really, really this or really, really that. The lesson of Spontaneous Smiley is that it’s possible to derive happiness from minutia, from the littlest of things, the most mundane of chores, the least likely of objects.
Bird Poop? Yes!
Garbage Can? Yes!
Peeling Paint? Yes!
But if minutia is going to do it for you, it does require that you decide to notice minutia and define it as good, pleasant, beautiful, etc.
Smile. Be happy!
Ruth