Happy Places
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This week, I received a number of Instagram posts showing pictures of beautiful places with the caption, “My happy place.” There were pictures of beaches, camps, mountain sunsets, and even a pilot looking out above clouds. It was a fascinating collage, each of which filled a friend’s soul, but it made me wonder if everyone has such a place?
There are many places in which I’ve been happy. The most effective places involve nature in some way. Sitting beside a waterfall, walking beside a dramatic sea, watching a colorful sunrise or sunset are among my favorites. I once went to such a place and was filled with a happiness the likes of which I’d never felt. It made a lasting impression, and I tried to go back to the exact location so I could feel the same elation, but much to my surprise and disappointment, I sat on the very same rock, looking out at the very same view, and felt nothing. It was still beautiful. It just didn’t stir my soul as it once had.
I remember a New York Times wine critic being asked what the best bottle of wine he’d ever had was. Given his access to priceless vintages, his answer surprised everyone. It was a bottle that anyone could find in a grocery store. He’d opened such a bottle while rowing on a lake on a misty evening with the woman who would eventually be his wife. Years later, they returned to the same lake and opened the same wine on one of their anniversaries, but it wasn’t the same. It had nothing to do with the wine, they learned.
So it is with happy places. The happiness comes from somewhere beyond mountains, sea, or wine. Certain places can open our hearts in wonderful ways, but the happiness lies elsewhere. It cannot be manufactured, manipulated, or bottled. Happiness is a gift, a gift wrapped in many packages. When given, we should receive it with grateful hearts, and not clenched fists. We should give thanks not to the gift, but the one who gave it, our true happiness.
Extra Credit:
Where is your happy place?
When you are there what is it that fills your soul so?
Is it the place, or where your heart goes when it’s there?