Ok I know the title of this blog post is a little big. Really dude? In 500 words you are going to tell us how to be happy? Isn't that what millions of people have been trying to figure out for centuries? Scholars have scholarred. Poets have poetted. And now you just finally cracked the code, huh?
Well, in so many words. Yes.
Life is hard. And not only is life hard, people are harder. People have to become hard as stone to survive. If we were all soft and sensitive, the human race would have been extinct years ago. Life throws us a lot of curve balls. People get hurt. People get sick. People die. People get screwed over. It happens everyday. And in order to survive, these same people have to toughen up. We learn from the pain that we need to be more careful next time. We need to protect ourselves and our emotions, so we start building our emotional wall. (To learn how to break through this wall, see my article called How To Break Through Your Emotional Wall).
The biggest thing we do to protect our emotions and to fortify our wall, is we become bitter. We become very cynical of the people and the world around us. In order to make sure we aren't hurt again, we make fun of everything before it can effect us. We call Hallmark movies "cheesy." We make fun of simple love songs and call them "lame." Anyone trying to change us is obviously trying to sell something or they are "full of it." No one is genuinely happy, right? It's not possible. If you are overweight, then that's just the way it is. You can't lose weight. If you are broke, then that's just the way it is. You can't get out of debt. And if you are unhappy, then that's life. Life is hard and we are meant to be unhappy. Aren't these the messages we hear everyday? No wonder so many people are popping pills for depression. We live in a bitter, cynical society that tells us nothing is possible.
Here's the thing. These are all lies.
People who are saying these statements are lying to you. They may not know it, but they are. They can't see the truth anymore through all the bitterness fog. Cynicism has made them blind to joy. There is only one cure for this disease of bitterness that is spreading through our society:
We have to stop being cynical.
That's it. That is how to be happy. Stop being cynical. And here's why. Once you turn off the cynicism, you give yourself permission to feel again. You are telling yourself that it's okay to let go of the fear and to open up again. You don't have to call Hallmark movies "cheesy" anymore. It's okay to like love songs again. You are giving yourself permission to embrace every guilty pleasure you have every experienced. You are allowing yourself to believe again.
How amazing would that be? You can stop your cynical cycle today and give yourself permission to feel again. Let the emotion wash over you. Feel it. Sing it. Love it. The power you have inside of you is amazing and all it comes down to making a choice. You can choose this everyday but you have to commit yourself to fighting the army of bitterness marching all around us. It's everywhere. Screaming at you and making fun of you. But who cares what miserable people think anyway? I choose to be happy. I choose to feel. I choose to believe. I choose to not give into my cynicism anymore. I'm free. Finally. Won't you join me?
Lost? Not sure where to go next?