The ever elusive 'happiness' ...

The Criteria for Happiness

It's time to stop waiting

To be happy

To stop living in a place

Of looking outwards

Gazing longingly

Into the future

Where happiness must lie.

It's time to scribble out the criteria

My mind has conjured up

Convincing me

That once I have all the boxes

Neatly ticked

I will finally find that elusive bliss

That everyone seems to be searching for.

Because now I know

It's a lie

An idealistic illusion;

Once,

I had all the boxes ticked

I fulfilled all my conditions

And yet –

 I felt no inextinguishable glow

No lightness of spirit

My laugh remained forced;

I was like a shell -

empty.

It's taken a whole year

For the realisation to take root;

Happiness does not depend

On achievements, accolades,

fame or fortune;

The external alone

Will never create it

No matter how high up the ladder I climb.

No,

It has to be an inside job

It’s not waiting

Somewhere out there

It’s not hiding in the future,

Always a few paces ahead,

Just out of reach.

Actually it’s far closer

Far more simple

Than all that;

Perhaps one could even say

It is more a shedding of layers

Than a building up;

All we need to do to see this

Is to watch a young child

Making sandcastles

Or a dog

Rolling in the long grass …

Happiness stems from love

Which is in me

And in the present moment;

Simply being

And honouring

Who I am

Where I am

As I am

Right now.