Southeastern Idaho is richly blessed with stunning sunsets. At the culmination of the day, the setting sun bathes the Snake River Valley with a golden glow, embracing the horizon as if it is sending its tentacles to the farthest reaches of the valley for all to bask in its magnificent brilliance.
Southeastern Idaho is richly blessed with stunning sunsets. At the culmination of the day, the setting sun bathes the Snake River Valley with a golden glow, embracing the horizon as if it is sending its tentacles to the farthest reaches of the valley for all to bask in its magnificent brilliance.
The atmosphere thickens and golden beams create the spectacular optical phenomenon of a sunset. Brilliant golden, yellow and scarlet light stretch out like long appendages to shed the day’s last rays of sunlight to all within its reach.
Years ago I read an intriguing magazine article with the premise that when the angle is just right as the sun is setting, a reflection on the glass of windows creates golden light. That part is true. The author called this spectacle golden windows and claimed that reflection indicated that a happy family lived in that home. I embraced that mythical concept and taught my family to do the same. Why not?
Since then I have been cognizant of golden windows across the valley. I frequently discover golden windows visible on homes on the eastern hills of Idaho Falls. Optimistically certain that incredibly happy families reside in those homes that are reflecting the glow of the evening sun, I never tire of nature’s gift of glorious light and imagining the happiness that radiates out of those residences.
Invariably, I am delighted when approaching our own home when the sunset is creating our own golden windows. Even if we don’t see the sunset reflected in the windows of our home or our life, we have the ability to create our own golden windows.
Creating happiness is a mental experience. It has to begin in the mind. We either create it or we don’t. Reiterating a characteristic mantra of mine, “No one has ever knocked on my door delivering a happy day, a happy attitude or a happy home on a silver platter. You have to create your own happiness”. I have yet to meet anyone who has opened their door to the Deliveryman of Happy. If we want to be happy it is up to us to make it happen.
How tragic it would be to wait all of our lives for someone or something else to create joy and happiness for ourselves. We are responsible to generate our own version of happiness, our own personal golden windows.
A happy life is no accident. It is developed by happy moments, hours, days, weeks, months and years. None of us is naïve enough to believe that every moment has to be blissful. Life is filled with the mundane, the routine and the ordinary. The secret is for happiness to be our companion even in the commonplace experiences. Happiness, or lack of it, becomes a habit.
Taking a challenging moment and making the best of it could be a golden window maker. Sharing a laugh, a smile, a kind word creates golden window moments for both the giver and the receiver. Golden windows are contagious.
We are the masters of our destiny. We can create happiness even in less than ideal circumstances. Everyone experiences challenges and disappointments. Don’t wait until everything is perfect to have a golden-window life. Create it. Live it. Enjoy it. Find ways to create golden windows for others.
We don’t have to wait, nor should we, until the sunset of our lives to experience our golden windows of happiness. Happiness is attainable repeatedly, just as the sun rises and sets day after day. With some imagination we can discover golden opportunities to create joy no matter the circumstances. Determine to unearth the best in each day and immerse yourself in abundant happiness and joy. Create your own golden-window life.
Susan Stucki is the author of Celebrate Life.
Visit her website at www.CelebrateWithJoy.com.