This is what we pray for, when we pray for happiness to return:

for our cloudless minds to register the echoes of our own footsteps

and the waves of our breath,

to smell freshly cut melons and dozens of roses when we walk past them,

to laugh,

to create,

to celebrate with ourselves when our to-do list is conquered,

our bed is turned down,

the moon is out and we fall asleep gently after a long day

of living with ourselves in peace

When happiness returns, it brings the world with it, everything we have been missing and grasping for, big and small-for the smallest blessings of the present moment are better than what we left behind.

(Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash)