Yes, I work a lot. Yes, I have a lot of jobs. But look at all the empirical happiness they bring me.

Forbes list of the 10 happiest jobs leaves me feeling quite happy. Number 1 on the list is clergy, and while I am certainly not a full time leader of any church, I am a minister in the Universal Life Church (an online ministry that does not require any formal belief in God) and routinely marry couples and perform baby naming ceremonies. And at least one family refers to my as their family’s religious leader.

Probably not what Forbes had in mind when they included this on their list, but too bad. I have a ministerial ID card and everything. I’m counting it!

Number 4 on the list is authors.

Number 6 on the list is teachers.

Not bad. I currently hold three of the top six happiest jobs, and I agree with the findings of the study. All three of these positions bring me immense satisfaction.

Rarely is there a day when I am dreading going to work.

In addition to these three, number 5 on the list is special education teachers.  While I am not a special education teacher in terms of certification, I have been teaching special education students in my classroom for years, and some of my most meaningful teaching moments have come when working with these students.

I feel like I should get credit for this one as well.

Also, number 2 on the list is firefighters, a job that I have been considering on a volunteer basis for a long time and have recently become more serious about pursuing.

It’s a job that has always interested me on a number of levels, but if it can cause me to have five of the top six happiest jobs on the Forbes list, that’s enough for me to give it a go.

I’ve often said that I feel happier than most people around me.

In fact, I once wrote a post about this very subject that I am currently unable to find (which makes me unhappy).

I also reported on a study last year that seems to indicate that the amount of television I watch has something to do with my happiness.

I suspect that there are many reasons for my near-constant state of happiness, and when I find that damn post, I will link to it and you can read about them all.

I’m pretty sure my wife plays a large role in this, too.

But thanks to this Forbes list of the top 10 happiest jobs, I now have an even more plausible explanation.

I love the work I do, and it turns out that the work I do makes most people happy.

Lucky me.