{"id":46453,"date":"2022-03-19T11:45:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-19T11:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/?p=46453"},"modified":"2022-03-19T11:45:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T11:45:20","slug":"always-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/2022\/03\/19\/always-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Always happy."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I hear this over and over again, people saying<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be happy all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasoning behind this popular conclusion is always the same: if I was happy all the time, it would become boring, and stale, and I\u2019d get used to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes sense if you come from a place where we live and feel and experience everything from contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling good following feeling bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acquiring skills versus having no clue what you are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfort after discomfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive in the wake of negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is all very real and very valuable, it\u2019s how most of our experiences work, but it also has got nothing to do with the thing I started this little story with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because if you\u2019d be happy all the time, it WOULDN\u2019T be boring, or stale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because you\u2019d be happy all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALL the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That specific state of being simply has no room for the emotional stuff we dislike so much and try to get rid of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are happy all the time, we don\u2019t need contrast and going from low to high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are happy all the time, there\u2019s obviously a very generous, reliable, and highly adaptable system of bliss production in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the question that WOULD make sense and is interesting to look at is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that even possible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually feasible to be happy all the time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really don\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I don\u2019t mind entertaining the possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen my overall levels of happiness and contentment change dramatically and positively over the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After dealing with alcoholism and depression and anxiety, after my body and mind became substantially unfucked again since the end of 2012, life became SO much better, in SO many ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads me to believe that it\u2019s actually possible to live in a happy state ALL the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though I am not pursuing it maniacally, I loosely play with it every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of a constant expansion of happiness and bliss, combined with the tangible liberation of being I have experienced, is wildly exciting to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I LOVE the idea of knowing there is more, even more, always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you come from a place where you already have enough, there is no negative tension, no real friction, not much disappointment or discontentment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am getting happier all the time, not in a completely linear fashion, but in broad strokes that leave room for confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the happiness and gratefulness I have experienced over the last years come from the contrast we are so used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it also seems that longer periods of deeper happiness leave less room for despair and other extremities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really, deeply appreciate and love the contrast, the growth, the difference between then and now, and if the awareness that is here right now turns out to be the highest attainable state of being in terms of positivity, it would be totally fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is extremely good for me and to me and in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s colorful, it\u2019s rich, it’s rewarding, and it\u2019s surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fulfilling, it\u2019s entertaining and full of potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t predict what\u2019s next, but if it ends in being happy all the time, I\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just hope you won\u2019t find that boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by @raimondklavins, for Unsplash)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hear this over and over again, people saying \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be happy all the time.\u201d The reasoning behind this popular conclusion is always the same: if I was happy all the time, it would become boring, and stale, and I\u2019d get used to it. Which makes sense. It makes sense if you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[99,102,97,117,100,105,116,113,107,103,112],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46455,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46453\/revisions\/46455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marnix.nl\/homepage\/welkom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}