Lucky

There are a few words in every language which give a certain insight into how the speakers of that language think, and this is one of them. In Dutch, they use the same word "gelukkig" for "happy" and "lucky".

This is only a hunch of mine, but I have the feeling that many English speakers feel like they 'have a right to happiness". You often see this on TV, especially with new-age types, spoiled rich children, overprotective parents and - worst of all - psychologists. They act as if being happy is in the Ten Commandments or Magna freaking Carta. Let us take a quick look at the commonly accepted list of human rights (from : Wikipedia)

• Right to live, exist.
• To work for anyone
• To own property
• Free Speech
• Security
• Safety from violence
• Protection from the law
• Fair trial
• To be innocent until proven guilty
• To be a citizen of a country
• To vote
• To seek asylum if a country treats you badly
• To think freely
• To believe and practice the religion a person wants
• To peacefully protest (speak against) a government or group
• Health care (medical care)
• Education

While the exclusion of any of these things may be a direct cause of unhappyness, there is nothing on this list that in itself will make you truly happy. These following things are not human rights:

• Watching a someone's head go into an elephant's anus
• Enjoying other people fail spectacularly/The right to laugh
• Long walks on the beach
• Love

Yet, these are all wonderful things that we should cherish for as long as we possibly can. In Dutch, any time someone says they are happy, they are in essence saying that they are lucky; or that they are lucky to be happy. The combination of these two words achieves two important things. It allows us to remain realistic and optomistic when things aren't going our way, and it makes us appreciate happiness that little bit more, however fleeting it may be.

So try to substitute the word "lucky" the next time you mean "happy", and who knows, you might be a little happier for it. I mean, Holland doesn't rank near the top of world happiness rankings for nothing. I can tell you that from my personal experience, it helps.