My fiance loves to use a quote he heard when we had the chance to hear the Dalai Lamahttp://www.dalailama.com/ speak a year ago at Rice University. Someone in the packed lecture hall asked him (the Dalai Lama, not my fiance) what was the secret of happiness? His reply: be happy. Our purpose as human beings is to be happy. He gave a similar answer when prodded to spill the beans on world peace. In other words, get along.
Hmmmm. Can it be that simple?
My fiance has built a business on the basics. Me, I believe in the basics, but always make things more complicated.
But, I think both the Dalai Lama and my fiance are on to something.
In this case, happiness probably starts with just being happy. Accepting that it is my responsibility to just be happy. Now, I realize, you are probably a bit like me. Things happen to us in the course of a day that derail our good intentions. In my case, spending 30 hours of my last work week, on the phone with an Internet provider, which disconnected all of my service when performing a simple account transfer, has driven me and everyone around me nearly crazy. I have spent hour after hour spewing about this company until finally my mother reminded me how crazy I had become. It was one of those aha--I could have had a V-8 moments. What was I doing? Besides giving myself a headache and backache, absolutely nothing. My negativity certainly did nothing to help the situation. And, as frustrating as it can be to deal with a huge company that does not care whether it actually solves your problem, I needed to take a breath.
Life is short. And, I doubt it is comforting for God to see me and you discontented. I am not suggesting a pie in the sky, rose-colored glasses approach. But, I am going to do my best to get up with a smile and end the day with a word of thanks. Even if I have to fake it until I make it.
I think the Dalai Lama and my fiance would agree that is a good first start.
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