sit with it

Can I be honest with you?
Right now, the word happy makes me cringe.
There’s something about it that feels, well, trivial.
A bit like the rote interchange, “how are you?” followed by “good, thanks.”
Inauthentic, un-genuine and repetitive.

And at the moment there’s no escaping it:
happy wishes are everywhere as we enter a new year.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I know, I know. I talk a lot about lingering with what provokes you… and clearly this is provoking me.

So here I am, sitting with it.
Sitting with you.

I allow the musings to take shape.
I sip my coffee – and invite you to do the same.

Happy.

Why is it so jarring? Why does it collide within me?

Why am I finding it so hard to put my mouth around the words that I’ve said without fail, every year before now?

And why is the word happy elevated above all others when we all talk about the new year?

Why is the word happy elevated above all others when we all talk about the new year?

Typing a few key words into google, I scour some dictionary definitions. Favoured by luck or fortune, says Merriam-Webster. So, ‘happy’ means favour and fortune? Is that really the goal here? And if so, what happens if you don’t experience it?

I shrug and read on. Showing or causing feelings of pleasure and enjoyment states The Britannica. Okay. But if the new year isn’t causing those feelings for you, or those around you, what then?

The Macmillan echoes more of the same: feeling pleased and satisfied and used about enjoyable times, events, experiences, etc. that make people feel happy. Is it any wonder that the word itself feels so surface, so shallow, sometimes?

My eyes shift over to another: delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing. So dictonary.com includes the word delight. I pause a little longer over that one. There’s a depth of joy to the word delight, I think. But still – it’s over a particular thing. So if the new year isn’t sparking pleasure or delight, then why choose the word happy?

If the new year isn’t sparking pleasure or delight, then why choose the word happy?

I find a little more hope tucked further down some of the pages: characterised by or indicative of pleasure, contentment or joy says dictionary.com. Enjoying or characterised by well-being and contentment, Merriam-Webster adds. Ah. Contentment. Joy. Well-being. Now those are words I understand. They reach beyond the surface to the person beneath.

But those were harder to find. So does happy actually mean that to the vast majority of souls?
Have I just missed the boat somewhere, and presumed a surface quality onto a word that can mean more?
Or is the word itself so watered down that it can mean whatever you want it to?

And if so, does it really have any meaning at all?

Is the word itself so watered down that it can mean whatever you want it to?

I’m curious, now. I know there are proverbs and verses that refer to joy and contentment, but what about happy? Is it a word that ever featured, or is it a construct that we’ve grown more attached to in recent years?

My research surprises me.

It turns out that there’s this Hebrew word that is often translated as happy, but means oh so much more…

àshrê

related words: well-being, flourishing, happiness, contentment, blessed

The depth of àshrê ‘s meaning has been so hard to grasp in English, that it’s been translated in a range of different ways across biblical texts. One of those is happy – or happiness – and yet that barely touches the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the meaning this word holds.

Now that’s something I can stand behind.

For me, there’s enough ambiguity in the word happy to make me pause a little longer this year. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t say it. But I will think twice before I do.

And if I do say happy new year to you? I’ll be thinking of the Hebrew word, àshrê. And praying that you have a hope-soaked year in which you’ll find ways to flourish, even if that’s in the middle of the hard. And that you’ll find yourself blessed by the joy-filled moments that you encounter on the way.

If I do say happy new year to you? I’ll be thinking of the Hebrew word, àshrê.

How about you? When you wish someone a Happy New Year, what are you saying?

Friend, may your new year be full of àshrê.

Thankful for you,

Kristy x

Friend, as you enter the new year I’d love invite you to welcome it gently with me. Download my free 30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge here to help you slow down, breathe and reflect as you go about each day.