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I get it! (also, I got it LC heart problrms). If we were meant to be happy, then it would be our default state to where we return after being sad or depressed.
Instead, our base (default) state is low (call it depression) to which we return after being happy.
Why did our founding fathers include PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS as important as Life and Liberty?
Happiness is not a given. We are in the existential challenge of having to MAKE happiness, by our thoughts, words, and actions. We develop by doing this.
It is so subjective, based in part on what has meaning. Pictures of your family and kids (or boat) make YOU happy, but not so much to those to whom you're showing the pictures!
Stuff will happen over which we have NO CONTROL (like concentration camps?), except, as Viktor Frankl held, how we think about it,; and what we do about it. He found meaning in helping others. Maybe not happy, but there being MEANING IN LIFE got him through.
Instead of expending energy oscillating between sadness and euphoria (thank you Billy Joel), accept that it's all relative on a continuum, and there is no happiness unless there is also sadness. With that acceptance, we can find peace, which is more enduring than happiness
(Crazy Rich Asians movie).
This is not meant as a "Get over it, or snap out of it." Depression is real and painful. But it's in how we deal with it. 💌
Replies to "I get it! (also, I got it LC heart problrms). If we were meant to be..."
@shmerdloff This was in one of my daily readings this morning. Thought of you.
When we are no longer able to change a situation- we are challenged to change ourselves.
~ Viktor E. Frankl
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@shmerdloff Thank you for that. I agree with some of what you said. Happiness is not a place, or a goal or a "hey, I am now happy." It is a spectrum, a journey. moments in time. If you ascribe to Eastern thought, it is the present moment. Also, I love your question about "the Pursuit of Happiness," and as you said, everything is subjective. Some people (psychopaths) are happy killing someone. As everything is subjective, it is almost impossible to know what someone else believes except in their actions. This is one of my favorite quotes...
Flow with whatever may happen
and let your mind be free;
Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate.
-Chuang Tsu
I do believe we are all connected on a level that is not visible and I mean everything is connected in the Universe. This gives me peace in times when I am freaking out. I also believe and want to say that there is a big difference in depression, sadness, and hopelessness, the latter being brutal. Gratitude also helps me get out of the hole. I am okay at this moment. I may not feel good, but I have shelter, food, water, a car, my 2 dogs and 2 cats and I know that things could be much worse. I also agree that EVERYTHING is on a spectrum. Black and white thinking does no good, and I fight that. I need to find the gray (thanks Grateful Dead) See what I did there? I appreciate your post. It made me smile and challenged this brain to think. Acceptance is key in situations that I am unable to control. AA taught me that gem and honestly the only absolute truth in this life is "change."