Tuesday, February 4, 2014

A matter of choice

I recently read this post, this 'honk if you're happy' story.
Oh well, how I love it! How I share the foundations on which it is built.
In Ann's words:
“Honk if you are happy” is in reality: “To BE happy — honk.”
And “Give thanks if you are joyful” is in reality: 
“To BE joyful, give thanks.”
Of course you should read the whole story to understand this quotation fully. But that perspective we give to things, the way we envisage life: it is all based on how full our hearts can be, how focused our minds are, how wide our arms will open.
You can't be happy if you don't want to be, if you don't decide to welcome the flow of events and emotions life has in store for you. If you don't, you quite simply block the way to any goodness that may befall you.
I've read a lot of books and poems and texts on gratitude, and way more about 'positive way of thinking', and it keeps growing on me.
Feeling thankful is really acknowledging the good we have, it is understanding that whatever hardship we might go through, there is good too. It is accepting to let the light shine in, it is coming to a standstill to take time to let that beauty sink in. It means being aware of what surrounds us, accepting the possibility of improvement, happiness, bliss. Accepting to move forward.
These last months, I've noticed how sunsets were amazing on my way to work every morning. The nuances, the sun going up, the mist, the landscapes draped in robes of fire and ice, the solemn sleepliness of my small country town, the amazing order of things that allows thousands of lives to quietly run errands and hang out peacefully. It was as if Nature was calling out, reaching out to me, telling me how much there was not only to see but admire. A good way to start my work day, a hearty chunk of beauty and peace...to remind me that my life is here and now, that joy and serenity can prevail upon stress and aggressiveness, that slow is better than quick, that if you want to be joyful you need to take the time to see the joy. Maybe you can even spread it.
It is in our thoughts, our minds, our hearts: the possibility of being happy. It is in the process. It sometimes requires efforts, or at least a mindset. Sometimes it is focusing on the present, letting go of both past and future, to nestle in what our life can give us, second after second.
Of course if we could just live without ever thinking, or better, if we had children's magic ability to be in the instant and grasp happiness wherever it is/wherever we generate it, we might not need to make this conscious choice. But as we do think a little too much, we should wake up every morning thinking first about how we want this new day to unfold.  Wishing you to make the best of choices, every day :)





1 comment:

  1. This is a beautiful post, Val!
    I'm so glad to know that you've reached such a beautiful state of mind:) Maybe this awareness is after your hardships? It's shining! And I agree with all of your idea! well...isn't this one of "Your car goes where your eyes go"?;)

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