Where's the zen?

Hello, world. Things have been pretty hectic for me at the day job and all but I thought I'd make time before work today to write a post. I actually haven't been writing that much lately. But I have been reading constantly. I just finished Kant's Critique of Judgement, which, although it is half the length of Critique of Pure Reason, is just as technical and demanding on the budding philosophy learner. 

The topic of this post is happiness. Where's the zen in this day and age? Most of my retail associates, including management and upper management, don't seem to be happy and they're very vocal about it. To customers, to me, to their employees. The ironic thing is that even though management makes much more money than their employees, their employees are actually happier and nicer to be around, despite making less money and enduring more hardships. It's quite something. 

At first, you're kind of sympathetic to these sorts of people. And then you realize you shouldn't be. It isn't difficult to be happy in America. There are bums living in a box who are happier than rich people who would say, "I fucked a girl, but it was a shitty fuck," "I worked really hard at my job but the paycheck wasn't enough," "I'm a manager but its a shit job." There are so many of these people for which nothing will ever be enough for them. Therefore, you can't feel sympathetic to their plight because it isn't real. It's existential. 

I complain about the minor details of my life. The fact that they switched me to morning shifts after working night shifts for six years. But I'm not going to go on and on and on about it. I gave it a break after two weeks, lol. Because you realize that you still have to live life, work, and find happiness in whatever malure you are in. That's just the way life is. You have to deal with the hand you're dealt. And some people are dealt the worst hands. And others just love to complain about how bad they have it when in reality they have it better than most. 

So where's the zen? Where do you find happiness? Are we all just gray blobs that just run through emotions? Not at all. Naturally, you can only be happy if you have the capacity for happiness. If you lack the capacity for happiness nothing will ever be enough for you. 

Personally, I find happiness through art, literature, and music. I even find happiness from talking to others at work or wherever. Just sitting down to write about this brings me happiness because I know that I'm expressing myself from the heart. It's something meaningful. It isn't aimless. That's why I enjoy writing so much. Because I can express myself online in a sort of incognito way. 

I'm a happy person. Outgoing socially. In an age of antiquity, I would've joined the priesthood and become a saint. In modern times I'm a hipster artist intellectual musician type. My job isn't great but that's okay. Because I know that if I can't be happy now, I can never be happy. 

So where's the zen? It's inside of you. It's up to you. Within you, without you. 

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me [Across the Universe/The Beatles]