To Be Happy
What does it mean to experience true joy?
There are days when the word tastes bitter on my tongue,
As if I never knew the meaning.
As if my mouth has never known the feeling of a smile,
As if my stomach has never experienced the sweet pain of a good laugh.
On these days, my greatest tribulation is to get out of bed, to breathe in and out.
On these days, it feels as if there is a rock in my lungs, a knot in my stomach.
So what can you do to remember happiness?
I crack open the journals of days passed.
I read the words of a different version of myself.
The version of myself that was exploding with happiness.
I read about every comforting cup of coffee, every flower that made me smile, every time the stars made me feel small.
Because when I read my own words, I remember the words of a writer much wiser than myself:
"This, too, shall pass".