Happiness is difficult. It isn't something you 'find'. No amount of 'seeking' will result in making you happy any more than ‘getting’ anything will.
It's a choice. One we make every day.
When the storm blows in and damages your vehicle beyond repair, will you still smile when the sun breaks through the clouds and disperses the storm before it levels your home? When you go to the grocery store at the end of a tough day at work, after having been yelled at for one thing or another by clients and your boss, are you going to notice the little boy as he says his first words to his parents? Or what of while you are at work, getting screamed at for the rules you didn’t make, and half to abide by and will be fired if you don’t follow them, but may be fired anyway for not breaking them to assist a client? After all that’s said and done, how will you see them if you realized that their whole world just fell apart after being diagnosed with something beyond their control? What about when your own world is rocked by the loss of one so important to you that even time cannot undo the damage to your soul?
Answers to these I cannot provide any more than another could for me. But every day, every moment is a choice. Will I be happy and content with what is before me now? Can I accept this, even with everything thrown in my face, stained in my heart, and scaring my soul?
We won’t always be able to answer “yes”. But that’s okay, isn’t it? The times you can’t be happy, then let yourself be sad. Cry like hell, scream and swear, stomp off, paint madly, lash out, or silently steam. Happiness needs a counterpoint. Something that gives the world its edge, making it worth living for, fighting for, and even dying for.
And if you can say it once, at least once, you can decide if it’s worth it.
Then say it again.
“Today, I choose to be happy.”
--Kathleen (Katie) Barton 11/15/2014
It's a choice. One we make every day.
When the storm blows in and damages your vehicle beyond repair, will you still smile when the sun breaks through the clouds and disperses the storm before it levels your home? When you go to the grocery store at the end of a tough day at work, after having been yelled at for one thing or another by clients and your boss, are you going to notice the little boy as he says his first words to his parents? Or what of while you are at work, getting screamed at for the rules you didn’t make, and half to abide by and will be fired if you don’t follow them, but may be fired anyway for not breaking them to assist a client? After all that’s said and done, how will you see them if you realized that their whole world just fell apart after being diagnosed with something beyond their control? What about when your own world is rocked by the loss of one so important to you that even time cannot undo the damage to your soul?
Answers to these I cannot provide any more than another could for me. But every day, every moment is a choice. Will I be happy and content with what is before me now? Can I accept this, even with everything thrown in my face, stained in my heart, and scaring my soul?
We won’t always be able to answer “yes”. But that’s okay, isn’t it? The times you can’t be happy, then let yourself be sad. Cry like hell, scream and swear, stomp off, paint madly, lash out, or silently steam. Happiness needs a counterpoint. Something that gives the world its edge, making it worth living for, fighting for, and even dying for.
And if you can say it once, at least once, you can decide if it’s worth it.
Then say it again.
“Today, I choose to be happy.”
--Kathleen (Katie) Barton 11/15/2014