Reading a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye called So Much Happiness from a book by Roger Housden called Ten Poems To Set You Free (highly recommended) it reminds me of a quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky;

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

Nye’s poem is making the same point – she begins,

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.

she then continues to make the point that we tend to gravitate towards the negative. Trouble or sadness have a weight that occupy us whereas happiness just happens and when it does we have to lift our eyes to engage fully with it. Happiness is only fleeting when we fail to follow it. We have to grow wings and take flight and the beginning of wings is to be found in counting our joys. There is sufficient sadness in the world to keep us chained to the floor – but just one whisper of happiness can break those chains and set us free . . . . .

So Much Happiness – borrowed from Bloodaxe Facebook page here