So happiness and the lack thereof has been much on my mind lately. And despite my sudden empathy with and compassion for people who find themselves in an unhappy place in life and have trouble getting out of it, I recently had a chat with someone on my feelings about Responsibility and Happiness:

In essence, I’m not a very sympathetic person to those who look to others to make them happy. Looking for a sympathetic shoulder to cry on and looking to others to dig you out of the unhappy place you're in are two different things entirely. The first is something people can expect from their friends. The other is something I think people are responsible for doing for themselves. As I lectured someone else on the other day, we're all responsible for our own happiness, no one else's, nor is anyone else responsible for ours.

My friend responded that “some of it … is not ‘make me feel better’ but ‘hey, Pollyanna, just because you had it good doesn't mean everyone did.’” Yeah? So? Reacting to someone else's happiness by pointing out that not everyone is happy is rather selfish, as far as I'm concerned. If someone is happy, why bring them down? If you're so aware of the bad things in life, then why not be more appreciative of the pleasures that someone feels at the expense of no one, instead of trying to bring them down to your level of cynicism? I know it's a natural response, but there's this thing called self-reflection and self-awareness, where you recognize what you're doing and why and can then take steps to modify your behavior towards whatever outcome you'd really like to happen.

Gosh, I guess I’m back up on my soapbox again. Remember what I said about compassion? I think it's gone with the sunshine :-)