I Will Be Happier If….

“My only goal today is to see a bear,” I joked with Scott as we drove the Skyline Drive over Memorial Day weekend. “That will make me the happiest person in the world.” We weren’t hiking, just taking the scenic route through Virginia, sneaking a peek at a part of America we hadn’t seen before. The odds were slim that we’d actually come across a bear. Deer, yes. Bear, notsomuch.

That’s probably why my hands were shaking with excitement so much when I spotted a tiny bear cub climbing up a hill 15 minutes later, I couldn’t snap a decent picture.

I shrieked.

The car’s brakes shrieked.

The bear cub disappeared into the woods.

Then Scott reminded me that where there is a baby bear, a mamma bear isn’t far behind. Sans decent photo, we moved on. No evidence, just the experience. Satisfied, I sat back in my seat and just enjoyed the rest of the scenery, chatting with my husband about any old thing, happy to have met my goal of seeing a bear in the wild, happy to just be in that place, in that moment, with the sun breaking through the clouds.

This week, I came across this quote in The Atlantic:

“Happiness as a byproduct of living your life is a great thing, but happiness as a goal is a recipe for disaster.”

I’ve been rolling this idea around in my brain ever since, bouncing it from side to side, analyzing its meaning, thinking about living life intentionally rather than passively, and finding happiness in unexpected ways.

How many times have you thought: I will be happier if….

How many times has that thought gotten in the way of your happiness?

This past weekend, we took the drive to the mountains. No goals, no agenda. Just chatter and jokes and pointing out the hawks and butterflies. And eating homemade blueberry ice cream. And as we rode through the hills, we saw a fully grown bear run across the road and disappear into the brush.