What's your favourite part of life?

Me on Tathra beach at dawn - lovin' life

That's what I asked my honey this past weekend on a trip to the coast.

"What do you like most about life?"

I was getting ready to hear "golf, surfing, the beach" and already had my answer lined up:

"the ocean, sunny days, swimming, skiing, hiking, nature, whales, dolphins..." I could fill a whole journal with what I love about life.

Rob's answer came back short and sweet:

"Being happy."

What? Being happy is what you like most about life?

Wow.

That is probably the most profound and simple answer to life's quest for meaning I have ever heard.

You see, Rob is happy most of the time. He hums in the shower. He has fun at work (and he's a divorce lawyer for goodness sake! He spends his day handing people a box of tissues and splitting up their assets and care for children. Not the most uplifting work, but he is happy doing it!)

Rob's recipe for happiness is simple: 'what's the point in being miserable?'

So he chooses to feel happy. Every day. No matter where he is, what he is doing, or who he is with.

He doesn't need to earn millions. He doesn't need to have a fancy car (though he covets a Maserati bi-turbo spider).

He doesn't even have to live by the sea, though this is is favourite place in the world. A morning surf before work is the thought that gets him licking his chops like a cat with a canary.

So while he indulges his fantasy of driving a slick machine an frolicking with wild abandon in the surf, Rob is happy anyway. Happy now, happy later.

He chooses happiness itself, not circumstances as his source of joy.

Who knew I was married to the Dalai Lama?!

Sometimes our greatest teachers are much closer than we think.

Here are some photos for you to perk up your day:

humpback whales by Tathra - waving a fin

Mum and bub moving out to sea

bub's flick of the tail