The other day I was flipping through dusty pages at a used bookstore searching for something to generate a spark in myself; a little pick-me-up. I meandered over to the self-help section and gazed at binding upon binding of people’s troubles labeled and fixed. Then, I stopped. The word was bold and bright in black and white and read, “Happy.”

I guess, technically, all self-help should result in happiness, so why not go straight to the source? I lifted the book from its trap between “Get Rid of Your Wrinkles” and “Lose Weight Fast” and did my usual should-I-buy-this-book test.

I opened the book in the middle to find a list of things that spark happiness. “Babies wearing jeans” was the only necessary thing I had to read before I rushed to the checkout line. Who doesn’t love a good denim wearing infant?

On the way out of the store, the first thing I saw on the street shocked me. There was a blue jean baby strapped to her father’s chest looking right at me. The irony put a smile on my face that lasted for the rest of the day.

What struck me even more then the irony was the feeling that it gave me. What is it about the little coincidences in life that make us so happy? Do we need to be told what to look for to find happiness or does it find us? What does it take to make people happy in the first place?

Maybe we just like to feel part of the bigger picture. Maybe we are blind to the light in our life until we are told it’s there. But when we find it, the warmth that fills us up is as encompassing as that first ember that spawned happiness.

Walking around campus, it’s not hard to see glimmers of happiness. Even easier to see is its absence. Preoccupation with workloads, pressures from all directions, personal issues, and everything else life brings about clouds our vision from little sparks of happiness.

Had I not picked up that book and not walked out on that street exactly when I did, I would have never even noticed anything particularly special about that bundle of baby joy.

For ages, people have known that the goal in life is to be happy. But do we even really know what that means? In a world that bogs us down with hatred and inequality on a daily basis, are we truly living it right? Are we only able to make ourselves happy when we are conscious that happiness is the goal?

The key is not to wish happiness upon ourselves and others. It is to create it. We have to open our eyes more often to see the good that surrounds us. The little things in life can be so much more fulfilling if they are seen in the light they are meant to be seen in. There is beauty everywhere and sometimes we just are too inattentive to see it.

Take the time to dwell on things that make you smile. It’s not a waste of time. Whether you write a list of things that bring you joy and then seek them out, whether you read something happy and seek to find its message in your own life, or whether you simply put your mind at ease from the preoccupations that overshadow beauty, the goal is to be happy. You’ll live longer. You’ll feel better. You’ll breathe easier.

One of the greater benefits of appreciating things simply to appreciate them is that it’s contagious. Once you start realizing that you could feel happier, you start making an effort to see things differently. Once other people notice this change in you, they too might open up their eyes to beauty.

Imagine waking up and simply being happy because the sun is shining. Imagine smiling at something that doesn’t just involve something sarcastic. Imagine feeling whole.

It seems very idealistic to simply be happy. With all the horrors of the world and the treacherous circumstances that accompany each day, sometimes happiness seems impossible. But, it’s not. You just have to look for it.

Without even realizing it, you’ve opened yourself up to this realm of thought. Once you place this newspaper down, try to find at least one thing that brings a smile to your face.

Whether it’s miniature jeans on miniature people, or the face of a friend, you should try to dwell on the light in your life. You might just notice the weight being lifted off your heart. You might just smile. You might be contagious. You might be happy.

Leigh Greaney is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].