Friday, June 8, 2012

Creating happiness


I have to admit, when I first saw links for this blog on Facebook, I was like, how annoying, another happy person telling me all I have to do to be happy is be happy and have a positive outlook.

Nope. Not so much.

I think it's really important not only to admit to ourselves that we are struggling with something, but to admit it to others. I struggled with this a lot as a teacher, as my colleagues waxed joyful with stories of sweet things their students did and lessons that went amazingly well.



I had awesome lessons and sweet students too, but I forgot about them in the morass of kids who threw milk cartons and fell asleep in the back of class.

You can imagine how little I care for social media, then.

More and more, as I progress through my training, I start to understand the idea that though pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. I start to recognize those little efforts that add up to improvements in my world. I start seeing "positive people" not as unrelentingly positive but struggling, just like everyone else, looking for the opportunity in the difficulty, looking for ways to examine discontent and find a way to change it instead of wallowing in it.


Positive attitude? Maybe for me, this manifests as a belief that I can change my circumstances. That to accept what is, does not mean I have to be defeated by it. That there is something I can do, every day.

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