Love & Happiness -

Elias was confused. "I’m doing this for our happiness," he insisted.

He learned that love and happiness were not rewards for being perfect, but the results of being authentic. As the poet Nichole Shirell suggests, their relationship became a declaration of choosing love from a place of wholeness. They found that when they gave up the "myths" of what a relationship should be, they finally found the reality of what it actually was: a constant, beautiful effort of two people choosing to "shine their light" on one another every single day. Defining Love & Happiness - My *Asterisk* Life

"Happiness isn't something you 'do,'" Sarah replied. "It’s something you are when you’re present." Love & Happiness

Following that conversation, Elias began to change his approach. He stopped looking for love in his accomplishments and started finding it in small, quiet moments:

She reminded him that for years, they had often let small arguments become battles because they were both too afraid to be vulnerable. They had been following a "manufactured storyline" of how life was supposed to be lived, rather than listening to their own hearts. Elias was confused

Elias was a man who believed happiness was a trophy to be won. He worked tireless hours, convinced that if he could just provide enough, he would finally earn the love he craved. He treated love like a transaction: I give effort, you give affection.

One morning, his partner, Sarah, sat him down. "Elias," she said softly, "you’re so busy trying to build a castle for us that you’ve forgotten to live inside it with me." As the poet Nichole Shirell suggests, their relationship

: Taking a moment to appreciate the warmth of their shared coffee.