Can a Year of Happiness Have Sad Moments Too?

I'm under no delusions that a year of attempting outrageous happiness will also include moments that are sad, discouraging, depressing, or exhausting. As I listen to the Pandora 80s station (which I so frequently do since losing my brother last summer, he loved the 80s), I sometimes reminisce about the ways things used to be when I was younger and how life is a series of moments that collect over time. Those collections of memories through the years have been wrought with pain, sadness, loss, and mostly depression, but there have also been collections of fun, exciting, exhilarating, daring, and loving moments in there as well.

Why does the bad seem to outweigh the good? Is it my perspective? Does it matter whether it's true or not, if that's how I see my life? Why do some people just naturally have a cheerful disposition and I have to work so hard at it?

So, what does it mean to be happy? I feel like there have always been moments of happiness that happened over the course of my lifetime, but they get blotted out by the misery and sadness. I'm going to work over the next year on trying to fill in the blanks for happiness in the following areas of my life:

Happiness at work is...
Happiness at home is when...
Happiness in my relationship looks like...
Happiness with my self-image means that...
Happiness with my friends involves...

This isn't, by any means, an exhaustive list, but things for me to ponder as the year goes on. Today has been good so far. Some of the things that made me happy (or brightened my mood) today are:

1. Getting to work on time.
2. Receiving a humorous email from a co-worker.
3. Observing coworkers engaged in an intense conversation while listening to Phil Collins' "Sussudio."
4. Working collaboratively with school personnel at a particularly challenging school.
5. Having more than 11 hours to engage in more moments of happiness. Now that's exciting!