Every Day I Make A Decision To Be Happy About Something — Anything
Each decision I make to be happy is cumulative and progressive.
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Most of what I write is about politics. It’s not my first choice, but it’s deeply related to happiness. Every decision I make to be happy is a foundation for my politics.
I have a deep and abiding interest in what it takes to live in peace. I derive peace in my life mostly from noticing everything and anything around me that I find is a reason to be happy.
I have also found that every decision I make to be happy about something, even grateful, about an object in my immediate surroundings increases the number of days between episodes of drama.
So I avoid stirring up the pot of drama. I err on the side of peace.
My politics is rooted in my desire for peace and happiness. I recognize that everything is connected. Scientists have learned that it is not possible to observe an experiment without affecting the outcome. I translate that to mean that it’s not possible to hurt someone without hurting myself.
Conversely, it’s not possible to help someone without helping oneself.
There is this myth floating around humanity that we are all free agents in a bag of skin. Every one of us is connected in some way. We share the air, the water, the land, the sea, the earth.
At any given moment, there is a distinct chance that we could be breathing some of the very same nitrogen molecules that passed through the lungs of George Washington, Sir Issaac Newton, or Ptolemy. The same is true of carbon dioxide or molecules of water vapor. We share the light.
What remains is our consciousness, which is everything we can’t leave behind.
I’m a stoic. Stoicism is a philosophy, the practice of deriving as much happiness as possible, without regard to our external circumstances. And so I go inside for happiness. This isn’t to say that I’m inert or that I lack empathy for others.
I create my own happiness and share it with others.
Every day I create my own happiness by just noticing what I already have, and I find a reason to be happy about that. I find a reason…
