What to Do with Happiness

Most people who know me, and I repeat most, know that I'm a pretty happy person.  I love so many things about my life and feel proud that I've built the type of relationships and environment that keeps me on the sunny side of life.  My relationship with Jerome makes me smile inside out, my friends couldn't be stronger and my family couldn't offer any more emotional support and confidence than they do.  Some days I feel like I have a full team of cheerleaders on my side.  Of course, everyone who knows me well also knows that I have my complaints and problems but I'm going to ignore those for today since I'm feeling particularly chipper this afternoon.

But, what do you do with excessive happiness?  Smiling like a drug addict on the street seems like a bad idea.  My kindergarten teacher, Betty, would say to spread it around, making sure you share it with others.  My brother, Brian, would probably say to keep it going and hold onto it till you pass out.  So, I looked into it in the only place anyone seems to research anything these days: online.

Quote yourself:  

Charlie Sheen, who says he's HAPPY not CRAZY (as I believe), he spouts his "knowledge" and "life lessons" through quotes and videos to the world.  For some reason everyone is listening.  I'd like to say I'm above it all and don't participate in the media frieze that is Crazy Sheen but it's just too funny to let go.  There are a ton of websites compiling quotes from his latest rants but this one is by far the best.  You even get to click on a graphic of his head to keep him talking.

Then, there's people who compile quotes about happiness from the likes of Ben Franklin and Mark Twain. 

Get a Tattoo:

Perhaps you'd prefer to express your happiness with body art.  A quick search on Google Images for "Happy Tattoos" came up with a Hello Kitty tattoo of the famous cat ridding a bike and two different colored horses having sex.  Hilarious.

Make others see the world through your eyes: 

This group says, "damn I'm happy, what the hell is wrong with you?"  This group includes anyone who is egotistical about their happiness and has the balls to hold seminars about how happy they are.  They claim to be teaching others how to achieve happiness, but appear to be nonsense about how people don't look at their "inner self" enough.  Crap.

And, my personal favorite, break it down and teach teach others how they can tailor happiness to their lifestyle:

"THE HAPPINESS PROJECT is the memoir of the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier – happily, it was a #1 New York Times bestseller. As one of the hundreds of experiments I've conducted, I started this blog. Here, I recount my daily adventures in pursuit of happiness."