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Twitter's like STOP BEING SO HAPPY AT SMALL NORMAL THINGS when that is literally the exact way to improve quality of life that many many folks have been successfully practicing for thousands of years with dramatic success and it costs zero dollars and is super accessible
I would say, go beyond being happy that your nation is going to help fight climate change and that the Keystone pipeline is cancelled and that our current president doesn't have a big crush on totalitarianism. I would find MORE.
I would say, be happy at the taste of your breakfast and the way a sincere smile gets reflected back to you almost involuntarily. The way your walls keep the wind and rain off you. I'd say be happy at how many people you love are alive today and available to be talked to.
But those who think they aren't capable of this would think I was shaming them rather than inviting them. It takes training, but it doesn't hurt like some other workouts. I had to pay thousands of dollars to learn it because I didn't trust the folks who told me for free.
I wish you'd trust me, but I get why you wouldn't. I also get that some people think happiness must lead to complacency and lack of change. That is false.
You can happily march, happily call your reps, happily vote, happily battle your prejudices, happily tell your bigot uncle his words aren't welcome in your home. In fact if you do these things glowing with serenity you will turn heads, shake certainties.
Imagine if no one could dismiss your deepest-held beliefs as products of bitterness, hatred, and all around unhappiness. What if you radiated joy and STILL fiercely demanded change? How would they dismiss it as a bad mood or "unsatisfied personality" then?
The truth is that the two things -- your mood and your values -- are unrelated. You can see that something is wrong without being consumed by rage. You are not a wolverine who must rely on instinct and adrenaline; you can *think* and skip straight to the action.
Happiness is not incompatible with action. You can work on a just and equitable world WHILE being delighted by what you already have. Joy is not a sign to stop, to freeze time. Time does not freeze; it's limited. You can ALWAYS make things better, no matter your level of joy.
But the work sure feels better when you aren't exhausted. Anyone who demands you FEEL a certain thing, rather than focusing on what you should DO, is not actually interested in change. They simply can't stand seeing others happy when they have forgotten how.
But they haven't really forgotten; people are constantly reminding them how, and they simply refuse, because living trapped anger blinds us to the possible. Everything feels like a threat, an accusation. Feels like being silenced. Your anger is real!!!
Of course it is. So is your allergy attack. Your nausea. Reactions to real things. Do you just live with those symptoms, resentful of people who live without them? Or do you look for a way to feel better so you can get on with your life? How is this different?
It has taken me decades and thousands of dollars to learn how to do all the same things I was always doing but happily. You don't get to take that away from me. Or from my friends. Or from any human being on my watch. Don't tell us how to feel. Your rage is YOUR choice.
Your rage is your choice.
You do not get to choose others' feelings, especially when you've chosen your own with no apparent regard for your own well-being and effectiveness.
Joy is better. It just is. It takes work, and wisdom, but if I can get there most days, anyone can.
You do not get to choose others' feelings, especially when you've chosen your own with no apparent regard for your own well-being and effectiveness.
Joy is better. It just is. It takes work, and wisdom, but if I can get there most days, anyone can.
