Even Happier?

The other day, it was a friend’s birthday that had moved back to the states from Tokyo.  I sent her a classic Happy Birthday note on WhatsApp.  She wrote me back asking how I was.

“Good. Bad. Happy. Sad. All of it.”  I typed back.  

Then she responded with the usual banter: “It’s an emotional rollercoaster… ”It’s rough in the beginning…”  But then she wrote this: “I thought my boys were so happy in Tokyo.  Oh my goodness they are even happier here.”

And in those words, a shift happened.  I realized that I thought we were as happy as we could ever be right now in this moment.  That we were at our happiness threshold.  It never occurred to me that we have the capacity to be even happier. I never let myself imagine that we could be on a path to even greater joy.  

And then I begin to ponder:  What if we go forward instead of back?

What if the past five years of marketing consulting, design thinking, life coaching and adventuring catapults me into beautifully fulfilling and purposeful work?

What if we don’t just send the boys to a new school, but find a public progressive Forest/STEAM school that matches our families values? (And yes, we are already enrolled.)

What if I don’t just get a seven-seater SUV, but get a convertible?

What if we don’t just buy a house in the burbs, but find a rad space, in an amazing community, surrounded by the most beautiful bits of mother nature?

What if we get a dog?

What if Steve, the boys and I create a life for ourselves building on the foundation that we have cultivated to make it all even BETTER? 

That doesn’t mean that Tokyo is any less.  That our life here isn’t truly wonderful.  There is no comparison.  It just means there isn’t a scale of 1-10 with a hard stop.  It’s a scale of 1 - infinity. The capacity for joy is limitless. 

Limitless.  

Whoa.