There are people in our lives who never seem to be happy. There’s always some outer circumstance to blame for keeping them from getting what they want. Then there are people who always seem to be fine! Their life is seemingly perfect, and they just don’t seem to have any problems. What did they do to deserve such a peaceful, perfect, happy life? I investigated. I wanted answers.
Years of undercover research and investigation finally lead me to a life-changing discovery: There was no difference between the lives of the angry person and the happy person. They were both broke. They both had a million responsibilities. They both had complicated love lives! The only difference between the angry person and the happy person was: their choice.
It’s true, we all get happy when things are wonderful. But things aren’t always wonderful, are they? You’ve all heard the phrase “fight or flight”. Basically, when we’re faced with conflict, we naturally respond with either fighting against the conflict or assuming defeat and running away. Come to find out, the happy people were choosing fight, and the angry people were choosing defeat.
I did a little soul searching in my early 20’s, and I realized I’d been choosing defeat. I was WALKING in defeat. Everything sucked, and there was nothing I could do about it but stomp around angrily like everybody else. Well no more! I divorced defeat. FOREVER! I am greatness. Always have been, and always will be….so now what?
As it turned out, choosing joy was NOT the same as “acting” joyful. Pretending to be happy and masking my actual disappointment or despair only put me in a downward spiral of bitterness and resentment. Choosing joy meant genuinely smiling back at my conflicts and adversaries while they tried to beat me down. Why would I want to smile at this? How on Earth would I want to find joy during the crummiest of times? I’ll tell you why! To let the world know that I am greatness, and I cannot and will not be defeated.
That’s not an easy thing to do, though. It takes practice. It’s a muscle that needs to be built up. But in the same way, you need to exercise and discipline your diet to achieve your strongest physical self, you need to exercise and discipline your positive outlook in order to achieve your strongest mental and emotional health. What happens when you combine optimal physical health with optimal mental and emotional health? Greatness.
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