This and That

Happy:  Having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquility; blissful, contented. 

Content:  Satisfied; happiness in one's situation.

From The Daily Reflections: "Happiness is not the point."  This is the kind of shit that drove me to distraction when I was first attending meetings.  In my world of broken toys and deranged clowns happiness was the entire point.  The only two things worth achieving were getting what I wanted and avoiding what I did not.

From one of our members this morning: "I was always pursuing my mistaken idea of what I thought was going to make me happy."  How about I divorce myself from self-pity?

Willingly: Of one's own free will; freely and spontaneously.

From the musings of Bill W: "When pain comes we're expected to learn from it willingly."  Also, an infuriating concept.  First of all, I'd like to pass on the pain.  And then I'm going to pass on learning from it, preferring to bitch and moan loudly, pausing only to plan on how to avoid it at all costs.  Learn from it?  Willingly?  Who are these people?

From a friend: "You are confusing boredom with serenity."

Me, talking to the select group of friends who won't take a swing at me, after listening to them share the details of a particularly painful experience which I have absolutely no idea how to ameliorate: "Boy, you're really going to be able to help someone at some point."  I'm not trying to be snarky when I say this, either, but I'm just speaking from my experience that sometimes when I'm going through something difficult and unwanted I'm gaining the knowledge that might help someone else down the road..