Be Happy
I can’t even fathom the amount of time I spent chasing after happiness – as if it were something to be acquired or won.
If this university accepted my early admission request, if my bank account had such-and-such an amount, if my body looked a particular way, if this other person were part of my life, if the health of certain people I cared about were improved, if this other person would just behave the way I’d like them to, if … then I would be happy.
Happiness resembled a giant “conditional if” statement. If certain things occurred, then I’d be happy.
But I realized that no amount of possessions, no amount of experiences, and no amount of things “going my way” led to happiness.
In fact, the more I got, the less happy I was.
It was such a counterintuitive revelation. The more one obtains what they think will make them happy, the more misery they discover.
I appreciate Leo Tolstoy’s perspective: “If you want to be happy, be.”
In other words, happiness is a choice for being. Happiness has nothing to do with possessions, people, pride, power, or personal health. It is simply a choice in the mind.
Be. Happy.
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