Tuesday, December 7, 2021
The work of being happy and well-adjusted is related to creating meaningful experiences; to creating useful things for yourself and for others; to being a useful person in the world; to creating humor when people need a pick-me-up; to creating fun, when people are desperate; to creating something better than all of this “serious” rhetoric that you see on social media; to creating something worth having, something worth doing, something worth seeing, something worth reading, etc. Happiness is about creating something worth your time and effort. Is complaining worth your time and effort? Is fighting worth your time and effort? Is laziness worth your time and effort? If the answer is no, then do something different. Happiness is related to intention, and sadness is related to living accidentally.
Happiness is (present tense). It’s in your resolve, in your determination to do something good and worthy of your time and effort. Your intention to be happy is a daily practice, a usable skill that comes from recognizing your purpose. When you begin to succumb to the rhetoric of a complaining mind, or of complaining people, snap to – wake up. Don’t succumb to the negative dream, do something creative (write a thank you note, display a gesture of kindness, give someone a smile, do a good deed, etc.). Happiness is a present-tense verb, it’s not a concept, or a future reward for doing something “later.” That’s accidental living. Living on accident waits for happiness. Living on purpose knows it’s there, it’s active, it’s ready, it’s willing, so put it to use. When you live intentionally like this, you’ll never feel like you’re chasing happiness. As a matter of fact, when you live intentionally, happiness will chase you.