Passion, Peace, and Happiness...Where Do We Find Them?

When I was a little girl, my cousin Emma and I wrote a song called, “I Sing Because I’m Happy” in a scrappy yellow notebook. We were so impressed with ourselves because the song was written in one night, so obviously we felt pretty good about our song-writing skills.

Do I have any idea where the notebook is? Nope, but I can say that it’s a memory I’ve held onto for a long time. It got me to think, what made two pre-teens so inherently content with themselves?

And then I really started to think, (because I’ve had a lot of time to think during the COVID-19 pandemic), what is it that really inspires true happiness, and where does one’s peace of mind come from?

Oh, you don’t know either? Alright, cool. Let’s get right into it then.

What really brings “peace of mind”?

Everyone has a different way of finding their peace of mind. Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. from Psychology Today writes, “To achieve this kind of peace of mind requires a simple understanding of how your mind works”.

Emma Sosnoff, the famous counterpart of our song, believes happiness is found internally, and if we choose to find the good in everything, it’s because it stems from within ourselves.

“I think true happiness comes internally because those who can find happiness in anything bring it out from themselves,” Sosnoff said. “They find it within other things, but it is by their perspective that they internally bring on that happiness.”

When speaking about what drives her internal happiness, she mentioned how her goals are the cause that keep her going every day. Sosnoff finds freedom and a sense of pride in creating her goals and following through with them on her own.

“I personally picked them, I didn’t have to pick them, which I’m really grateful for because some people don’t have a choice on what they can and can’t do,” Sosnoff said. “I think having goals and creating them and being able to reach them proves to that person that they can do anything they set their mind to, and that’s really motivating for me.”

Kelly Werther, my pal from the great state of Kansas, is a person of action and empathy. Whenever she finds her loved ones sad or in discontent, she wants to fix it. But, she believes happiness comes from within, and everyone has got to find it on their own.

“When you think in terms of trying to make other people happy, there’s only so much you can do,” Werther said. “They’re never going to be truly happy or have true happiness unless they can find it or create it within themselves.”

Is it possible to be consistently happy? Or are we crazy?

Werther continued with the thought that even though people and parts of their lives change, the notion of change is a constant factor you can always count on, helping you find inner peace at all phases of your life.

“Your experiences and everything that has happened to you or that you have done affect you and change you,” Werther said. “So, yes, I think that with people changing, so does their happiness.”

Werther explained her prior dreams of becoming an author, but once she graduated from college, she began a job in graphic design and found a new happiness. She can always appreciate that writing once brought her happiness, but her new solace is creating art through graphic design, which she can attribute to her experiences throughout college and taking on a new career path post-graduation.

My friend Julia Hatzigeorgiou took a different approach when looking at internal peace as a constant, believing there are several forms of peace of mind as well.

“I think there are different types of peace of mind,” Hatzigeorgiou said. “I think it definitely changes over time. The things that bring you peace like when you’re younger won’t necessarily bring you peace when you’re older. And also, your frame of reference of what peace is to you changes over time too.”

Although Hatzigeorgiou believes that peace comes from within, she also believes in the journey of finding it within yourself. At one point, we must rely on ourselves to find our center (insert meditating emoji here).

“When you’re little…something comforting will bring you peace,” Hatzigeorgious said. “But as you get older you realize that you can bring that peace on yourself.”

So, wait, this is about a journey?

Well, in one word, yes. I mean, why not right?

Earlier I mentioned from Dr. Robert Puff is that all you have to do is understand your mind and what ultimately makes you who you are.

Does this realization come to everyone at the same time? No, no, and definitely no. We learn in different stages of life what internally motivates us to consistenly feel good from the inside. Sometimes those are goals we set for ourselves, focusing inward and paying attention to what makes us feel good, or knowing that the better we can do for ourselves has a direct effect on what we can do for others.

I’m still figuring it out, but I’d like to believe that inner peace comes from being wholeheartedly content with ourselves no matter which part of the journey we are in.

Maybe for now we'll all take it day by day and figure it out as we go. Besides, we've got all the time in the world to see if that makes us happy, right?