We can be as happy as we choose to be

Happy Monday! Last week I found myself going down the negative news cycle rabbit hole. I have heard it called doom scrolling and that is actually what it feels like; scrolling for doom. I was feeling quite down and stressed, until I realized why. That is pretty much always the first step in this practice; NOTICING. Then we can take the next step which is PAUSING. This can lead us to the third step; the opportunity to meet the feelings and behavior with COMPASSION in order to begin to shift.

So, I noticed that I was feeling stressed and sad and yes there is always stuff to be stressed and sad about (and maybe one could argue more now than other times) but then I paused… and started to think about the good things in my life and paired that with the appreciation that the good is equally as important as the bad.

I shared this quote by Howard Zinn with my students last week as a reminder that we get to choose how happy we want to be. 

“An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many– where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”  Howard Zinn

We can always choose to live now in joy. Whether it is honoring the challenges and equally appreciating the gifts our bodies offer us or reminding ourselves that we can be as happy as we choose to be regardless of the news cycle. “The future is an infinite succession of presents”and we get to decide how we are going to live in them.