"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” ― John Lennon.  When I grow up, I want to be happy. We all want to be happy. For some of us, happiness is jumbo jets and sailing yachts, and for others happiness is long walks and slow sunsets. Happiness can be a loved one – arms draped ‘round your waist, heartbeats in sync, with fixed grins and warm laughter against your chest. Happiness can be a sanctuary – in a cozy apartment atop a bustling city scene or a salty shoreline breathing life from air and sea. Happiness is not what we find or where we go, happiness is what we are and who we become. Happiness is now, and happiness is you.          
         
OK, how do I “become” happy? How do I make happiness an existing state instead of some long-sought and distant goal? The secret lies in your perspective. Good things happen, and bad things happen. We know them when we experience them. These events can make us happy or sad, hopeful or discouraged, but that is because we allow ourselves to react to experiences based on how we perceive them. 

Living in a state happiness is made possible by examining the context in which we see the world. There is dark and there is light in every situation; what is good for you is not always good for someone else, and what looks to be a terrible situation in your eyes could turn someone else’s life around for the better in ways you will never know.         
      
The perspective with which you experience life is your most powerful key to happiness. Furthermore, developing that perspective to include or consider the perspective of others can only improve how you perceive the behaviors and motives of those around you. To actively try your best to see the world through the eyes of others grants you a unique sense of peace with them. Have you ever heard the phrase, “the only one who hears both sides of an argument is the person in the next room?” 


Sometimes we fall out of happiness when we disagree with what others believe, feel or pursue. How often do you take time to stop and consider where the people in your life are coming from; what could they be going through? It is very likely that they are equally unaware of how your life is progressing.                   

Try to step back and shift your perspective, from time to time, to consider the concerns of others. Really immerse yourself into their world and step into their shoes. You’ll never fully understand them, but trying makes all the difference. Being open-minded allows you to see the world for all that it can be, rather than all you see it to be. 


When you read these words, near or far, home or abroad, I hope you’re smiling. Because in this moment, no matter how different we are, despite the possibility that we may never cross paths (or perhaps we may a million times more), right here and now, as I type you these words, you are seeing the world through my eyes. And I am happy.