(LOOTPRESS) – It can feel patronizing, even condescending, to hear the old adage: “Happiness is a choice.”
How could such a sentiment hold true when there are an endless assortment of variables both big and small which indubitably impact a person’s capacity to even classify themselves as content, let alone happy?
It’s a fair stance to take. After all, it matters not how enthusiastic one is about their boat – if it takes a torpedo to the hull, the thing is likely sinking without question.
But alluding to the sentiment in this instance is to posit that realignment of one’s perspective can bring about the realization that perhaps the most vexing issues in a person’s life at a given time are endowed with an exaggerated significance when one fails to properly consider the things which are truly important.
I sat down with my 3-year old earlier this week at the end of a characteristically busy day; dozens of thoughts racing through my head regarding that standard slog of what needs to be done, what I could be doing better, and everything in between.
My young son looked at me unprompted and queried: “Are you happy?”
It was a simple question, and one that caught me off guard; But I responded truthfully and in the affirmative.
“Why?” He followed up?
This gave me pause, and I considered the question for a moment.
“Happiness truly is a choice,” came the response.
Toddler-aged children lack the capacity for abstract thought to consider things like overall quality of life and perception of the world around them. The kid, in all likelihood, was just trying to gauge my mood in the present moment.
But the line of questioning revealed something to me that I hadn’t known about myself. Beneath the daily stresses of life, expectations, anxiety, finances, and a litany of other unpleasantries which occupy a great deal of my attention day to day, lies a man quite content with what he has, as it turns out.
You see, in life there will always be the option to be unhappy. Always. The sort of “once X happens” or “once Y is finally over” method of approaching contentment will indubitably leave a person hollow more often than not.
This is because things are never going to align perfectly, and there will without question always be obstacles both minor and major in the pursuit of happiness.
There’s an applicable quote from Robert Kiyosaki about traffic lights which reads:
“If you are the kind of person who is waiting for the ‘right’ thing to happen, you might wait for a long time. It’s like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before starting the trip.”
Sometimes unhappiness is unavoidable, but not always. It is our duty to discern when the muck of stress and life are at all penetrable. It is in these moments, no matter how brief, that happiness is possible, and it is then our job to seize that happiness without question when even the smallest opportunity presents itself.
“I do not myself think that there is any superior rationale in being unhappy,” philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell once said.
“The wise man will be as happy as circumstances permit, and if he finds the contemplation of the universe painful beyond a point, he will contemplate something else instead.” – Philosopher and Mathematician Bertrand Russell
As for myself, I relish the obstacles of life – as grueling as they often are – at any point in which I can find it within myself to do so.
This is the case because, just as my obstacles are unique to my situation, so too are the benefits reaped upon the navigating of those obstacles. I am happy because I can be, whenever I can be, and that’s all the reason any of us truly needs.
