Wholeness > Happiness

We are halfway through 2014, and I'm rethinking my Happiness Jar. Not because it hasn't been fun or enlightening to pick one (or three) of my happiest moments each day. I'm just not sure if "happiness" is what I'm really, deep down in my bones, at the core of my being, seeking out in this life.

Don't get me wrong: I love, love, LOVE being happy. I love the feeling of elation I get when I've taken care of my responsibilities and my time is all mine. But in my life as a whole, I'm seeking, well, wholeness.

This piece offers a different perspective on "happiness," one that I'm cool with and one that explains this wholeness v happiness concept.

Part of being human is being sad. And weird and relaxed and awestruck and grateful and restless and in love and disgusted and the WHOLE entire gamut of emotions and states of being. We were created for MORE than happiness. That's kinda cool, right? When I have dark nights of the soul, it just means I have a soul. (I don't remember who originally said that...I think one of my professors planted the idea in my head, and it's gotten me through disappointments and defeats ever since.)

I'm no longer trying to list my happy moments--I know I have them, every day, usually more than once--now I want to remember my whole moments. Every Most nights I think to myself, What made me whole today? I am more than sunny days and silly songs. I run deep, and this is good. My Wholeness Jar fills, and this is good.