By Fariha Fawziah
Shrieks of infectious laughter
and the inability to finish a joke because of it.
A nostalgia for moments that you wouldn’t think to remember.
Rendezvous with friends, knowing you may not always have them by your side.
That is happiness.
Happiness is perspective.
Not the value of your attire when experiencing new beginnings,
but the virtue and grace you bring to situations.
Happiness is understanding that success comes with patience, and without it
success has no substance.
We are all capable of happiness.
We find the beauty in things, the good and the bad, and we turn it into an acceptance.
Something to laugh about,
something to smile about,
something to pray about.
Happiness is understanding that where we are now,
is where we should live.
And without living,
we will die away with regret stuck to our bodies like sweat on a hot summer day.
Happiness is to be hopeful for the future,
despite every reason others give you not to be.
Happiness isn’t tangible.
It is a sensual feeling like love is.
It is the way our mothers cradle our chins when we are sick and in need of soup,
the way the sun beams onto our skins,
the soft sand in between your toes.
It is the smell of flowers after rain,
it is to love and to be loved back,
it is accepting that it is okay to be a child at heart,
it is the love we feel for our bodies as they show us how much they love us…
from the steady beat of our heart to the way it repairs the small papercuts we encounter.
We can’t define it with a dictionary,
but we can tell when we experience it.
Happiness is undefined.
As you wait for happiness to arrive,
remember it welcomes you with both arms…
ready for you to grasp your passions.