We chase after it，when it is waiting all about us.

“Are you happy?”I asked my brother，Ian，one day.“Yes. No. It depends on what you mean，”he said.

“Then tell me，”I asked，“when was the last time you think you were happy?”

“April 1967，”he said.

It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian’s answer reminded me that when we think about happiness，we usually think of something extraordinary，a pinnacle of sheer delight—and those pinnacles seem to get rarer the older we get.

For a child，happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide-outs in newly cut hay，playing cops and robbers in the woods，getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course，kids also experience lows，but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved.

In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement，love，popularity and whether that zit will clear up before prom night. I can still feel the agony of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. But I also recall the ecstasy of being plucked from obscurity at another event to dance with a John Travolta look-alike.

In adulthood the things that bring profound joy—birth，love，marriage also—bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last，sex isn’t always good，loved ones die. For adults，happiness is complicated.

My dictionary defines happy as“lucky”or“fortunate，”but I think a better definition of happiness is“the capacity for enjoyment.”The more we can enjoy what we have，the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved，the company of friends，the freedom to live where we please，and even good health.

I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First there was sheer bliss when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing，which I love. When the kids came home，I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

Later，peace descended again，and my husband and I enjoyed another pleasure—intimacy. Sometimes just the knowledge that he wants me can bring me joy.

You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what made them happy，some mentioned seemingly insignificant moments.“I hate shopping，”one friend said.“but there’s a clerk who always chats and really cheers me up.”Another friend loves the telephone“Every time it rings，I know someone is thinking about me.”

I get a thrill from driving. One day I stopped to let a school bus turn onto a side road. The driver grinned and gave me the thumbs up sign. We were two allies in a world of mad motorists. It made me smile.

We all experience moments like these. Too few of us register them as happiness.

Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a blend of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I doubt that my great-grandmother，who raised 14 children and took in washing，had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family，and maybe this was what fulfilled her. If she was happy with what she had，perhaps it was because she didn’t expect life to be very different.

We，on the other hand，with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area，have turned happiness into one more thing we“gotta have.”We’re so self-conscious about our“right”to it that it’s making us miserable. So we chase it and equate it with wealth and success，without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.

While happiness may be more complex for us，the solution is the same as ever. Happiness isn’t about what happens to us — it’s about how we perceive what happens to us. It’s the knack of finding a positive for every negative，and viewing a setback as a challenge. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have，but enjoying what we do possess.

逸　名

我们四处追逐幸福，而幸福其实就在我们身边。

一天，我问哥哥伊恩：“你感到幸福吗？”他回答说：“可以说幸福，也可以说不幸福，这要看你指什么了。”

“那你告诉我，”我说，“最近一次你感到幸福是什么时候？”

“1967年4月。”他答道。

我真不该对一个游戏人生的人提出这么严肃的问题，但伊恩的回答却给了我一个启示：我们想到的幸福时刻通常是一些非同寻常的事，一种纯粹的快乐——但是随着年龄的增长，这种快乐好像越来越少了。

对一个孩子来说，幸福有着梦幻般的色彩。记得我曾在新鲜的干草垛中捉迷藏；在树林里玩“警察与小偷”的游戏；在学校的戏剧里扮演有台词的角色。当然，孩子也有情绪低落的时候。但是，因为赢得一场比赛，或得了一辆新单车，他们会毫不掩饰地快乐到极点。

到了青少年时期，幸福观逐渐转变。突然间，幸福就建立在激动、爱情、名气甚至是脸上的青春痘能否在晚会前消失这样的事上。我清楚地记得大家都去参加一个舞会，而我未被邀请时的痛苦。但也记得，在另一次活动中，我意外地与一个貌似约翰·特拉沃尔塔的人共舞时的兴奋。

成年后，心灵深处最令人喜悦的是生育、爱情和婚姻。所有这些同时也带来了责任和丧失。爱情可能会消逝，性爱也不总是如意，心爱的人可能会死去。对于成年人来说，幸福很复杂。

字典里幸福的定义是“幸运”或“好运”，但我认为幸福更好的定义是“感受快乐的能力”。更多地享受我们拥有的一切，我们就能更多地享受幸福。但是，爱与被爱，友人相伴，简单的生活，甚至健康的体魄，这些细碎的快乐却很容易被我们忽视。

我合计了一下昨日的幸福时光，首先我准备好了最后一个午餐饭盒，独享整个房间，感受无比的幸福。然后，整个早上，我都在写作并且无人打扰，这是我乐于做的。孩子们回到家，我又享受着寂静一天后的热闹。

不久，再次恢复宁静，我和丈夫享受另一种快乐——亲热。有时候只要想到他需要我，就能给我带来快乐。

你永远不会知道幸福下一次会在什么时候出现。当我问起朋友，什么能给他们带来幸福时，有些人会提到一些看似微不足道的小事。“我讨厌购物，”一个朋友说，“但有一个健谈的售货员的确令我很开心。”另一个朋友喜欢接电话，“每次电话一响，我就知道有人想我了。”

我喜欢开车的刺激。一天，我停下来，让一辆学校班车拐到路边。那个司机咧嘴一笑，会意地竖起大拇指。在一个充满飙车党的世界，我们俩结成了同盟。这让我很开心。

我们都有过类似的经历，但很少有人能意识到这就是幸福。

心理学家告诉我们，幸福既需要愉快的休闲时间，也需要满意的工作。我的曾祖母让我很疑惑，她养育了十四个孩子，还要给别人洗衣服，看起来，她并没有休闲的时间，也没有满意的工作，但她有几个亲密的朋友和和睦的家庭，或许，这已使她很满足了。如果说她因自己拥有的一切感到幸福，或许是因为她并不希望生活是另一番样子。

另一方面，我们因为有太多的选择及想在各个领域成功的压力，让我们把幸福变成“必须得到”的一种东西。我们自私地以为我们有“权”得到它，这也是我们痛苦的根源。所以我们去追求幸福，并将它同财富和成功联系起来，而没有意识到拥有财富和成功的人并不一定更幸福。

对我们来说，幸福是复杂多样的，但获得幸福的方式却是相同的。幸福不是发生在我们周围的事——而是我们如何去看待周围发生的事。这是变不利为有利、化挫折为激励的秘诀。幸福并非是乞求我们未得到的，而是享受我们此刻所拥有的一切。 ny4apxknDXz8juwC1Xvpzhn7fcO4qudh6GMn7Gy2FOvtNDEtFazAyRciPfb68TLI