Happiness Is Already Yours

Moments of joy are available to us even during difficult times, writes editor-in-chief Heather Hurlock. Happiness belongs to all of us, inherently.

Adobe Stock/Marina Zlochin

It’s been difficult for me to think about happiness lately. I’ve been in a spiral of grief and sadness with a detour into COVID and a concussion thrown in for kicks. My fuse is short, my tongue is sharp, and my moods are stormy. But even still, I receive glimmers of love that remind me of who I am at my core. For example, just last night I lost my temper with my two precocious daughters (who were doing everything except what I was kindly asking them to do). After I cooled down and apologized, my daughter said, “I get it. We all have big emotions sometimes, Mom.” I nearly cried. And, when I was with my dad yesterday who’s ill and not long for this world, I told him: “You’re in my heart forever, Dad.” And though he isn’t strong enough to say much, he looked at me with a light in his eye and said, “And you in mine.” I cried the whole drive home.

Weaving a Tapestry of Connection

These little sparks tell me that my life is more than just the difficult moments. My life reaches back in time, through my parents and their parents, and…