I Am Happiest When [No.44]

I’m quiet inside

I’ve learned that a great deal about the interior nature of being happy.  Sure, our happiness levels can fluctuate when exterior events occur – when something unexpectedly good happens we get a lift in our mood and feelings of happiness, and when something awful and terrible happens we can feel low and flat.  Those things are real (not figments of our imagination) and have a real impact on  our feeling state.

That said, so much of every day happiness comes down to the interior experience.  To how you are experiencing your life, to what you are making the events of your life mean, to the thoughts you are hanging onto (or gently letting go of), and the feelings you are experiencing as a result of those thoughts.

Co-creation

I have come to understand what it means to co-create your experience of life.  Co-creation is a dance between you and life.  It is a partnership where life happens (part 1) and you have a response to those things that happen (part 2).

You may have some control of part 1 (life happening), but you definitely have a lot of control over part 2 (your response).

Hence, the co-creation.  You can make your life mean almost anything you want it to mean.

The Quiet Life

I enjoy the work of Kasey Chambers, a gifted Australian singer and songwriter. Her songs have this beautiful enigmatic quality to them – they are haunting and often sad, emotional and deep, yet light and whimsical.  I don’t know how she does it, but she nails it as far as I’m concerned.

Her latest collaboration with now ex- husband Shane Nicholson is The Quiet Life.  This song sums up what I’m trying to say in this post.

To listen to the song, just go to YouTube and type in ‘Kasey Chambers, Shane Nicholson, The Quiet Life’.

I’m going to reproduce the lyrics here because they speak to me so clearly, at this point on my journey into the landscape of happiness.

The Quiet Life

We could be the talk of the town tonight
Carry home your shoes in the morning light
Or we could just stay here a while
Wrapped up in the quiet life

We could sail away to Tobago
Fly across the Gulf of Mexico
Or we could just stay here a while
Wrapped up in the quiet life

Now and then I’m loving the world again
And I’ll be fine living in the quiet life

We could get a job on the movie screen
Smile on the cover of a magazine
Or we could just be man and wife
Happy in the quiet life

Where the clock don’t move so quick
Where the water don’t make you sick
Traffic don’t keep you up at night
Here in the quiet life

Now and then I’m loving the world again
And I’ll be fine living in the quiet life

Living in the quiet life
Sleeping by a firelight
Maybe I could make you smile
In the quiet life

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I Am Happiest When [No.45] I Am Happiest When [No.32] I Am Happiest When [No.1] I Am Happiest When [No.41]