Happiness.

Listening to Linkin Park's third single from Minutes to Midnight, "Leave Out All The Rest", I was reminded of something.

I've mentioned in this blog sometime before a short story called "Vanilla Bright Like Eminem" by Michael Faber. The story deals with the happiest moment in a man's life. It's a very good story, and whilst I am aware the likelihood of you reading is small, I still feel I shouldn't reveal too much and spoil it (although the brilliance is in the telling, not the ending, as with all quality pieces of writing).

But the concept of the happiest moment of someone's life is difficult. I mean, it might be fairly easy to pinpoint the happy times of your life against the sad times, but actually to pick a specific moment as the happiest. Not easy. Perhaps not even possible, are you really ever properly aware.

I was certainly very happy the day that I recieved my official degree certificate. But ultimately I knew that I was going to get it, so probably most of the happiness had disapated long ago. The degree was more a build of several happy moments where I got good results, or did well in a presentation or understood something in class. The feeling of finishing all of your essays is a good one too.

When I got a job recently I was very happy. But again, in a sense I had already been happy in the first place to have found the job, and then happier still when I was given an interview. Again, just a process of general happiness.

I was reminded, however, by Linkin Park because I remember a moment in which I did feel happy. I don't know if you could call it the happiest I've ever felt, but I certainly felt very happy. And it was odd, because it wasn't specific.

I wont furnish you with the full details, but I can tell you that I had just finished watching a film that I don't particularly like (based on a book I hate), and was listening to this Linkin Park song, which I do like, but don't really consider to be a real 'favourite' song or anything. There were other extenuating circumstances that I won't delve into, but nothing that specifically should count as a happiest moment. 'Better' things have happened, but just sitting their listening to it, I was aware that I was completely happy.