How happy are you in your everyday life?

In the television miniseries The Impressionists, which is fascinating viewing, someone comments about one of the artists that he sounds happy.

The other responds that he doesn’t think happy is on his palette.

How about you—is happy on your palette?

We’re not talking about the pursuit of happiness, which hordes of us are engaged in. When we pursue happiness what we achieve never lasts long.

The question was asked of a client by a counselor, “What is our responsibility in helping create our children’s unhappiness?”

The client simply couldn’t wrap her head around the question. She responded, “You mean happiness.”

The counselor came back, “No, I mean unhappiness.”

The client kept saying, “You must mean our responsibility in helping create our children’s happiness.”

In mid December, 2009, after living in the United States for thirty years, I took the step of becoming a citizen, which necessitated learning the constitution. Unlike America, Britain doesn't have a written constitution. I studied and studied to make sure I had it all down. But there was one statement in the constitution that I didn't need to study because I had heard it over and over across the years: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The experience of joy figures prominently in the consciously lived life. That's because joy is our inherent state of being.

This is in contrast to happiness, which comes and goes.

It’s possible to be bathed in joy even when the circumstances of our life are extremely taxing and don’t make us happy at all.