A friend asked me today why I looked so happy. I find the question very intriguing…

How did we come to a state where we feel the need to ask “why” if somebody is happy?

Shouldn’t happiness just be the natural state of being?

If nothing is wrong… nothing out-of-place… what stops us from being happy on any day? Such magic fills our life. It is everywhere.

In the brightness of a sunny day, painted into the glory of a sunset sky that catches you by surprise when you walk out at the end of a long day at work, in the train that you are just in time for when you were in a rush.

In friends who love us for who we are, and sometimes in spite of who we are. In the fantastic people who people our lives, form our families and fill our being with joy.

In the surprise call from a person you have been thinking about, in the chance meetings that can change the course of your life, in that unexpected windfall just when you needed it, in the joke in your inbox when you are hassled at work, in the smile of a passerby on a grey day.

In every morning’s waking. In days that go well, and even those that don’t go so well but we find the strength to live through.  In the faith living strong in our heart. In the beliefs which drive us. In dreams which come true— one by one by one…

In the flight of a bird that catches our eye. In the inexplicable kindness of strangers. In sudden irrepressible laughter. In unbidden joy. In grace. And in the blessings we don’t even count.

Everywhere…in everything.

And yet we need reason to be happy! Shouldn’t we require reason instead for being unhappy?