None of us are spared sorrow. It comes to all of us, especially if we love. Sometimes it's difficult to remember happy times when sorrow strikes. A reminder has fallen across my desk in the form of an anonymous note I once found and have kept for years in a box that once belonged to my great grandmother, a woman who likely never had time to worry about how she was feeling. The wisdom in the note is that happiness is fleeting and a balance must be kept between what we strive for and what we have in front of us at this very moment, good or bad.
"What is happiness?
The facing of reality.
The reality of life includes trying to achieve a closeness with someone you love, acceepting the sorrow if closeness ends, accepting the pleasure if closeness lasts.
Knowing you are in for both pleasure and sorrow, you try not to exult too highly or despair too deeply.
Reality is sometimes joyous but always inescapable. And to live in reality is less painful, more pleasurable in the long run, than to live in the fantasy of eternal happiness."
Happiness might only be a fleeting moment, but if savoured and truly appreciated, it lasts beyond the immediate and gets you through whatever your reality happens to be.
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