The best time of the day

Quiet evening with friends. The conversation turns to happiness. Standard definitions are starting to bottle up the discussion. General words do not interest me, especially when it comes to happiness: here only specifics can be useful to us. Or, in any case, it is necessary to start with the concrete, and only then, on this basis, build theories and make generalizations. Otherwise, endless blah blah begins, undigested pieces of someone else’s ready-made thoughts, semi-finished products, devoid of taste and aroma. “Let’s be more specific!” I demand stories that are as fresh as possible, and not invented, taken from the dusty attics of memory or constructed on the basis of our picture of the world.

I ask the guests, and these are married couples, to tell me about the best moment of the day, the most ordinary day. The exceptional does not interest me, at least not now. If our feeling of happiness is fed only by exceptional moments, then we will rarely feel fully happy and it will be difficult to achieve this feeling. I know many people are fascinated by this pursuit of moments of intense happiness. But this is not my case, either personally (I am not strong enough and gifted for this), nor professionally (my patients are like me in this respect). To please me, or because it pleases her herself, one of my old friends, endowed with the gift of being happy, begins to say …

“I love having breakfast in the morning with my husband, these are the best moments of my day!” The husband is surprised: “But you told me the other day that you are especially happy when we fall asleep in an embrace …” She answers, not at all embarrassed: “Well, yes, this is also the best time of the day! Even when we have dinner with the whole family and we feel good together. And when I hang clothes in the garden, standing barefoot in the grass and listening to the birds singing. My whole day is strewn with these pleasant moments. And at every moment it seems that he is the best!” Everyone perks up and joyfully confirms: “She’s right, she is.”

She is right, this is exactly what happens: in every moment of a simple life, we are at the pinnacle of happiness. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mountain peak or a small hill: the main thing is that we are above the clouds of indifference and suffering. Further stories follow one after another, but in each there is a reflection of the strength and sincerity of the first recognition. The experience of different people is close: the art of happiness is to enjoy all the pleasant moments, even if they are always the same moments, even if they are the most ordinary ones, even if there are difficulties besides them, even if suffering is nearby. Every time when mercy is shown to us, when happiness suddenly comes from nowhere, say to ourselves, smiling like a child: “I adore this moment, I feel so good in it, and it alone makes the day beautiful.” What is the most beautiful moment? Actually, I don’t care, I asked a stupid question. But the answers weren’t stupid at all. Every moment is the best. Or so: the most beautiful is the one that we are living right now.