BlissQuest: My Formula for Happiness

Happiness = (geekery + glitter) squared!

What does this mean!?

If my ultimate priority in life is to be happy (and like I've said, the Dalai Lama often points out that it is the purpose of life), then instead of being swept along by other people's ideas of what that looks like, it is my responsibility to define it for myself.

I think having it in a handy little formula -- something you can post at your computer or on your fridge -- is simply fun.

After much thought, after observing myself and what I love to do, after noticing the things that make me feel "out of time," I concluded that there were two large categories that were most important to me, and I labeled them as "geekery" and "glitter."

Geekery

This is the food for my brain. The stuff that gets me thinking; the stuff that makes me look at my own life and life in general in a different light; the stuff that gives me fresh ideas for my own creative work.

It has taken me until my late thirties to admit a few things about myself: first and foremost that I am a big geek. Hello, my name is BlissChick and I own my geek. Alas (and sigh), the scars of high school last a long time...

(Another late thirties confession: I love PINK, so there!)

My idea of geekery is based on "I was so geeked." It's being deeply passionate about things of the intellect and things that used to be considered solely the domain of "nerds," like birding and Star Trek.

Yes, I love Star Trek (all of them but I really love Voyager). Yet you won't catch me EVER wearing a com badge or speaking klingon -- which I have, to my own horror, seen being done in a PUBLIC CAFE as if it were normal! (I jest. But not really.)

And I believe that shows like Xena and Buffy and movies like The Lord of the Rings (the extended versions, duh!) have a lot to teach us about the nature of the universe and of humans -- if we are paying attention and are willing to be critical readers of that particular form of text.

Yes, I said that. Because TV and film and graphic novels -- all of it -- is just another form of "text." The book is not the only genuine and legitimate repository of wisdom. (And judging by a lot of books people read these days, said the old geezer, they are some of the last places you might expect to find wisdom.)

On to...

Glitter

(Yes, that is beaded fruit.)

This is the stuff that feeds my senses. I am a visual person, always aware of the aesthetics of my surroundings, and as a friend of mine once told me, I am somehow related to crows -- fond of shiny things for my nest.

But seriously, I just don't get people who don't notice the color of their walls or the feel of the fabric of their shirt or the compositional structure of the things they place on a mantel or a dresser top.

These are the details that make your life fun and goofy and original and beautiful and ... well, different from a picture in a catalog.

And finally, why "squared?" Because, the more books and movies and ideas and color and beads, the better. (I am a product of my culture, after all.)

So don't be surprised to see me in a cafe, discussing things akin to Klingon and the morality of Spike's decision to fight for his soul -- but I'll be the one with the great bag that so totally completes her outfit!