happyness.

My heart is very full right now, for several reasons, and it is my hope to pass onto you something that has inspired and taught me this weekend. 

I went babysitting the night before and I had the opportunity to watch a movie while the kids were asleep, one particular film stood out to me. The Pursuit of Happyness. After briefly reviewing other options I eventually placed the disk on the player and began this movie. I wasn't focused, I had several trips to the technological world of Instagram, SnapChat, and other distractions on my phone. I didn't have the chance to finish the movie and my kind neighbor let me borrow it so I could. Thank you for that. 

I don't know if you have seen this movie, if you know that Will Smith and his son are actors in it, or that if you know that the story is inspired by a true story. But I do and I love this movie (it was filmed in San Francisco also so I have a bias.) The ending of this movie is satisfying and phenomenal. "Welcome Chris" the final song, of the soundtrack has been on replay for the past hour because of the emotions it brings to me when watching this movie's ending. 

We, in America, are given the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I can only reflect on the thoughts of Will Smith as Chris Gardner, but it does stun me that Thomas Jefferson knew to pen in "the pursuit of" when writing the Declaration. How did he know that? How did he know that many could only pursue, without attaining happiness? It is fact that the majority of people I know and are acquainted with are not struggling drastically to make ends meet, or at least to such of an extent that is portrayed in the film. For those who recognize and maybe understand such a struggle, it is you who have experienced the pursuit of happiness in a push on your strength and capabilities that have driven you to survive, I admire you for that. For my friends and family, we are not eliminated from the pursuit of happiness, it is not assumed that we do not struggle in terms of surviving our lives and it is not fact that we are all happy. But, what is happy?

I found a documentary on Netflix titled "happy." Being of a positive and joyful state I was determined to watch this movie. I recently watched it (actually a couple of hours ago) and the message it conveys and the facts it provides brought me in awe. If you have a Netflix account of a close friend who does, I implore you to watch this movie. It is interesting and wonderfully produced. This film entails the studies of Positive Psychologists who have studied happiness. Throughout the movie, it goes to several countries and cultures where circumstances are not that of the general American lifestyle. HOWEVER, through recent studies (the movie was released in 2012), close analyzation, and experiencing and visiting people from different lifestyles it has been proven that the man who spends his days in a homemade Floridan house with the means of limited electricity and no splendors of iPhones and cars lives and loves his happy life with his family and friends, all of which living in the same situation. Or that the single mom living in Denmark with her 3 daughters in a communal home building with 20 other families in a cramped and modest apartment like home loves her happy life and feels blessed and provided for. Many more examples like these follow in the movie, of course. The point that gets to me, an idea that the film portrays is happiness is not of money, social status, success. Happiness is of the mind and the reactions we take on events in our lives, the ones we control and the unexpected. We attain happiness through intentional service, small acts of kindness, gratitude and appreciation. It is when we hope for the happiness of others that we form a sense of happiness in ourselves. 

I, Melany Chavez, have chosen to be happy. Because happyness is a choice. It is a skill, no different than that of piano playing, singing, a sport, or a talent. It isn't. I have chosen to be happy because I have been blessed with the splendors of a complete and righteous family. I am in a community of good and extremely wonderful people. I have the opportunity to learn, maintain, and follow my education. I have a testimony. I have a testimony of my belief, of my Savior, and my God, of their grand and endless love for me. I have grown with good health and "unusual blessings," as Elder Neil L. Anderson addressed Bountiful at a seminary fireside I attended. 

I have all these things, and many more. Too many blessings that I can't even count them all, because they are sincerely endless. They are. But, with these things I already have, my happiness is not ensured. My iPhone does not guarantee to me that I will always be happy. My testimony does not signify that I will not be faced with trials and afflictions, nor does it mean that I will not encounter adversity in my life. It doesn't and I am aware of this truth. However, as the people whom I have gotten the chance to know about this weekend (do not forget that it is more difficult for them to count all of their experiences of joy, triumph, and moments of happiness), the people who can count their materialistic things more quicker than I can or the people who do not have the necessity or have been blessed without being corrupted with things of the world as drastically as we have, just as they are happy I still strive to reach a level of happiness as grand as theirs. They are an example to me, they are admired by me and I know they are loved by their Heavenly Father. They've pursued happiness and they have reached it, and they will pass it on for generations of their struggles and their triumphs. Just as I have chosen to be happy, I have made the decision to always pursue happiness. Because it is a right I own. As it is a right many others have achieved. 

What will you do with your right?