Happiness is ...

Happiness is not the same thing as walking around with a smile on your face.  Happiness is not having stuff.  Happiness is not about being in a particular place.  or being a certain age.  Or having a particular car.  Or living in a specific house.  Sure, all of those can happen when you are happy, but they are not equal to happiness.

Happiness is less about what you have and more about how much you can let go.  Appreciating what you have.  Looking inward rather outward.  Looking where you are and forward rather than backward. Cravings -- be they for places, people or things -- they cling to your mind, leaving you less and less satisfied with what you have and who you are.

Happiness is not about getting more.  It's about simply being.  Imagine, if you will, a bridge, where happiness and peace are on either end.  Gratitude and being are the walkway between the two ends.  

Being where you are, appreciating that place, that person, that space ... that is happiness.