 |
| Add caption |
Anger, upset, unhappiness all hinge on this belief that the things that happen in life to and around us “SHOULD” be different than they are. We react thoughtlessly and automatically in ways we have been programed to react. We have been brainwashed into thinking that life should be FAIR and that some things and some people are bad and some are good and that there is always a right and wrong. We assess the actions of ourselves and others and make them the foundation of our attitude toward life and judgments of one another.
Happiness is invisible and silent. No eyes or ears are needed to detect it, to experience it. Happiness is all that anyone anywhere wants for themselves and for their children and happiness can not be found, it can only be created. It is a very simple thing really, to create your happiness; all you have to do is choose it. Maybe it’s more accurate to say, “think it.” An event or interaction occurs and we automatically assess it and accept or reject it based on our programming. Because we have had perspectives so deeply enculturated into ourselves we usually don’t even consciously think about how we feel-about how TO feel. We just go to the default emotion that is based on what we have been taught to believe. Given the scarcity of health and happiness among humans it is safe to conclude that what we have been taught to believe is guaranteed to render us unhappy most of the time.
We are either wishing things were different or trying to futilely change others and the reality presented to us. The serenity prayer instructs us to a point but changing the things that we can change does not make us happy either; it might make us feel powerful and temporarily satisfied through achievement but the only way to create a sustainable happiness is to change the way we interpret reality. If we take the good/bad, right/wrong out of our thinking then judgments disappear. Without judgments we cannot choose what to accept and reject. Things just happen. Period. Shit doesn’t happen. Life happens. Death happens (sort of..).
We cannot control what we see or what we hear but we can learn to control the invisible world of what we feel. We can begin to consciously choose how to respond emotionally to the happenings around us. Desires do not present a problem unless we pout when they do not manifest. I’ve heard the word “preference” is far preferable to “desire”.
What if we approached life with eyes wide open, innocent and as free from judgments as a new born. What if we were to experience the miracle of this world with the wonder of a child knowing nothing? What if everything we think we know is useless and even detrimental to how we feel?
Just sayin...
