This is the story of a balding woman ailing with cancer, who looked at the mirror one day and saw that she was left with only three hairs !
So , that day she told herself "Today I will make a braid" She braided her three hairs and had a fun-filled and happy day.
The day after, she saw that she had only two hairs . "Well , I will part my hair down the middle today ! " She did that, smiled and had a grand day !
The next day she woke up and looked at the mirror. She had only one hair left. "Hmm " She said "Today is the ponytail day !" She made a ponytail, laughed loudly and had a blast .
The next day she woke up and looked at the mirror. She did not have any hair left!
"Yay ! " She exclaimed ! "I don't have to do my hair today !"
Life is a song, sing it !
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Happiness is a decision. We can make the decision deliberately or we can only be happy by default when something that pleases us is right in our faces.
ReplyDeleteFor me, personally, I don't strive for eternal, unending happiness. When something is in my face that I do not care for I see it as information, clarification of desires. I do not, however, dwell on it. It does not take long to decide that I do not like something. Then I recognize that I am feeling a lower emotion than I desire and make deliberate, conscious choices to focus on something that feels better.
There is very little, ultimately, that we can control beyond our focus.
Can you control your:
Spouse?
Children?
Parents?
Employer?
Taxes?
Country?
Weeds?
Neighbors?
Boss?
and on and on
Focusing on an uncontrollable and unliked anything is not healthy and your emotions are guidance to tell you to find something better to focus upon. Humans are far too tolerant of feeling bad to the detriment of their health, relationships, and life experience.
I can choose to focus on something pleasing to me. I control my focus. The world is full of things that please me greatly. Where I choose to focus is within my control. You can become so good at it that you can literally have minor medical procedures for which anesthesia is the norm done and feel no pain (and not use anesthesia) by focusing elsewhere (I have done it) and you can even enjoy two hours in the chair at the dentist being prepped for a crown -- root canal included -- and enjoy yourself -- by the power of your focus. It takes practice to get to this point but it is very achievable.
There are tremendous benefits to taking control of your own happiness -- life is more fun and just gets better and better is one but science has been studying human thriving and found that we are healthier (10.7 years longer life and 18 additional healthy years for the positively focused person over the negatively focused one). Relationships of all types are better, your brain functions better, you are more resilient, and so much more.
Thanks for posting my linkedin comment here. I appreciate it.
ReplyDelete