Happiness

I feel pretty happy right now.  It’s 9.30 at night, Nina is asleep and I’m listening to some Damien Rice as I sip on my red wine and write this post on my comfortable lounge.  Damien Rice does make me feel a bit nostalgic and nostalgia is a bit of a bitter sweet happiness sometimes but mostly sweet in this instance.  Mum and Keith have just been here and we had a special time showing them around Chulucanas and the surrounding area.  They left Chulu two days.  They are heading slowly down to Lima visiting a few places on the way but we will be seeing them on the weekend again when we all head to Pucallpa to see Martin’s dad. Pucallpa is in the jungle and it will be my first experience of the jungle so that’s exciting.

I am also happy because Martin just submitted his second assessment for his masters.  It’s been a lot of work for him and he’s been rather distracted.  I am happy to have him back at least for a few days until he has to start working on the second one.  I have been trying to help by proof reading and that’s hard enough.  I think more than anything it has shown my ignorance of agriculture and probably science in general.  Lucky he knows that bit.  My dad once said that he thought we were happiest when we were just about achieve a goal, when it was in our reach but we hadn’t quite got there.  It makes sense in some ways, that we feel happiest when we still have something to strive for but I really think I am happiest when I have just achieved it.

I guess I am also generally happy because I have wonderful husband and daughter (and I should appreciate them more).  I also have friends and family who make me feel loved and valued and I mostly enjoy my life here in Chulucanas and the privelege of living in and travelling around another country.  Sometimes I feel like I would like to be doing a bit more here and feel frustrated that I can’t seem to get achieve some of the things that I want and struggle with feelings of inadequacy.  There are also feelings of guilt and pain from my past but I am strengthened by the grace of God in my life and my faith brings a deep joy to my life.

Anyway, I had a little moment of synchronicity when I realised that happiness was my next topic as just a few days back we got to talking about happiness with mum and Keith.  We were in a little restaurant in the mountains of Peru.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful place but the poverty was glaringly obvious as it is in much of Peru.  That day we had interacted with a number of people in the community there for different reasons and this had got us discussing the age old topic of poverty and happiness.  Are those of us who are not living in poverty any happier than those who are?  In general I find either argument on this debate unhelpful.  To say that people living in poverty are much happier than us often glamourises poverty and takes away the fact we have a responsibility to do some thing about it.  On the other hand to say that life for them is totally miserable takes away some of their dignity and diminishes the fact that their lifestyle is equally as respectable if not more than ours.

But I shouldn’t just disagree without having an opinion of my own I suppose so here a few scattered thoughts.  I know that certain basic needs have to be met for happiness to have a chance, eg if you are living in constant fear or always hungary or cold it would be hard to feel happy.  Having a sense of being loved, valued and belonging as well as having a sense of purpose and satisfaction influences a lot on happiness as well.  And I feel that comparison plays a big part and that envy is soul destroying.  Thus if everyone around you is living similarly to you it easier to be poor than if everyone else around you is rich.  Finally, it is commonly known that depression and suicide is more common is more “developed” countries but I also know that there are certain luxuries that help me feel happy but maybe that is simply because I am accustomed to it.  Sometimes I feel guilty too about being happy in a world of so much pain but I try not engage that much.  While of course it is important to be acknowledge other people’s struggles and thus be grateful for happiness and to not take it for granted, guilt serves no-one.  I am grateful for happiness.

 

 

2 thoughts on “Happiness

  1. I have often wondered about why there is so much more depression and suicide in Australia than here, when life is so much harder here. do you think it is just that, people expect life to be hard here, whereas in Australia people feel more entitled to happiness? Or is it that there is more time in Australia to analyze things and here lifeis taken up with survival? I am sure it is much more complex than any of those things but what do you think?

    I am happy that you are happy.

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