This week's lesson: happy in the here and now!

'Only if…' the words ring with angst and anguish and an uneasy hope down through the ages, afflicting every mortal soul, 'I'll be happy only if…'  When I'm married/have a child/finish my degree/own my own house/can afford to travel/get over this chronic health issue/find the right job…what's your 'only if?'  I've had several over the years, and none have really made me happy once achieved, for I'm always seeming to glance from the 'only if' just attained to the next lurking upon the horizon.  But this article hits it head on: I am falling into the trap of neglecting my present joy by regretting the future, whatever it is.  There is great wisdom in the saying, 'Godliness with contentment is great gain.'  It is certainly easy to fall into the pit of self-pity in a culture whose sole preoccupation seems to be 'keeping up with the Jones,'' especially with our social media addiction, wherein our real lives and selves are never displayed, only the happy, easy bits, making us feel that all the world but we ourselves is happy and untroubled.  Maybe minding my own P's and Q's is actually not such a bad thing after all, and therein lies true Joy, rather than skulking around some turn of an as yet untrod road!