Being Happy is Priceless

I often call our youngest boy "Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft" when he again daydreams on the couch and forgets to do his chores, or when he forgets to close the garage as well as the front door as we leave the house. This expression ("Hans-looks-into-the-air") comes from the German pediatrician Heinrich Hoffmann who coined it more than a century ago; he came up with a number of these phrases to induce the children to do the supposedly "right" thing.

Sure, being focused and goal-oriented is all very good, but getting lost in the moment and being happy is simply priceless. You should see how all his teachers love him. Why? Because he is essentially happy! We all love to hang out with happy people because deep down inside we know that it is our birthright to live in this blissful state.

The irony of life is that we live in abundance without knowing it. Our mind constantly comes up with conspiracy theories about people and problems that we might encounter in the future; and when we don't fear the future, we review all the regrets of the past. Yet, how blissful it is to be just caught in the moment, contemplating stories in our mind and getting lost in the magic and creativity of it. As far as my son is concerned, what started out as a nag has become an endearment instead. One day he will teach me how to get lost in the magic of the moment.