This is a post from 2008 and still remains relevant today. Though in present-day, my boys are a lot bigger and don't as eagerly anticipate my return home from work.

Are you happy right now? I mean really happy?

Are you happy with your spouse or significant other and the life you live together?

Are you happy with your career?

Are you happy with your personal relationships?

Are you happy with the way you treat your kids or your parents?

Are you happy doing what it is you do with your "free" time?

Are you happy with the direction your life is headed right now in the foreseeable future?

Wow... a lot of questions for a Tuesday morning eh? Some seriously heavy questions at that! Heavy but important questions I would submit.

Our own individual happiness is not something I think a lot of us spend time thinking about. I mean seriously, when was the last time you actually had a conscious thought about how happy you were at a particular moment. I suspect if you are like me, I have had those moments but they are few and far between.

Happiness is something in order to recognize it as it happens you have to dedicate conscious purposeful thought to recognizing it. It isn't hard but it is something you have to practice.

Last night my boys wanted to go fishing at the little pond by our house. I arrived home after a stressful day to see my littlest, Josh, already wearing his fishing vest and holding his tackle box. It was one of those moments that I let all of my stresses from my day simply wash away and I smiled.

As we prepared dinner you could see his excitement building. He had been thinking of going fishing all day - something I had promised him I would do. As I sat there and watched him consume his hot dog with urgent veracity, I could see how excited and happy he was that I was taking him to go catch some fish. It was at that moment that I consciously realized I was happy. I was happy to let all the rest of the garbage of the day go and focus squarely on him and his brother.

He was happy and in seeing that, I recognized I was happy.

He caught 3 fish - his brother and I caught none. Happiness isn't hard to find. It's in those moments that you stop and look that you will mostly find it. We all have countless opportunities throughout the day to find our happiness. It just takes effort, focus, and the ability to warm the heart a bit to allow in those welcomed and needed moments.

At the very minimum, answer the above questions. If you can't answer yes to any of them then ask yourself what changes you need to make in your life in order to get a different answer?

Try practicing today. Find what makes you happy.

Ripple On!!!