Happiness

Happiness. It's so simple, to be happy. It's what everyone is ultimately seeking. We fall in love because we want to be happy, we have children because we want to be happy, we eat to be happy, we sleep to be happy, we pick out our clothes to be happy... Everything seems to boil down to happiness, whether in tiny bits or in abundance.

Sadly, all too often, we stand in the way of our own happiness. We make decisions that we know will blow up in our faces, we seek out things that might make us happy in the short-term but that will cause suffering in the long-term. We gamble the happiness we have in favor of the promise of a greater happiness, which can be a dangerous wager. I know there have been countless times in my life when I've turned a blind eye to my own happiness because I thought I wanted more, or because I thought being unhappy was somehow preferable to just living a simple, happy life. I've grown past that now. I recognize the beauty in my life, however simple it may seem, and I am embracing it. I have learned to cherish what I have and, while I still have dreams, I know better than to risk everything for something that might not make me happy in the end.

Some people, though, choose to revel in misery. They choose not to be happy with their lot, to be discontent, and even to bring others down with them. They are unhappy because they choose to be, and, as long as they're miserable, they may as well have as much company as they can get. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they sabotage, they manipulate, they take, they punish, and they bully. They do absolutely anything in their power to bring misery to others because it just doesn't seem fair that others should be happy when they themselves aren't.

Those people know who they are. If you're reading this, you know if you're more of a happy person or a miserable person, and you know what choices you tend toward. Of course, almost everybody is some combination of both, because people just aren't perfect.... But there IS a choice. A choice to be happy and spread happiness, or a choice to be miserable and to spread misery.

Personally, I chose to be happy, and what do you know? Happiness overwhelmed me. As long as I continue to choose happiness, no one can take that away from me. But if you choose misery... Well, it's not difficult to beat down someone who's already crawling in the dirt.

I challenge you all to evaluate your lives and choose happiness. Choose to be grateful for what you have instead of envious of that which you don't. Choose to love those in your life instead of pushing people away. Choose to be happy, and you might just surprise yourself with just how happy you find yourself to be.