Why is everyone depressed these days?
Everyone is 'surviving' not 'living', you see people posting motivational quotes like: "go to sleep with one thought, tomorrow will be a better day", or outcries to help themselves and yourself "There is so much life running through my veins going to waste" and the plain sad ones: "this country is hopeless, we have reached a dead end"
When we meet each other, we exchange complaints, when you catch up with an old friend, you discover that none of your news is happy: X & Y got divorced, Z moved out of Egypt, I am quitting my job... etc. And those who have good news, they stopped sharing it, because they believe that they will instantly get jinxed.
We usually get caught up in our misery because of three main issues: financial problems, work problems or the biggest devil of all: relationship problems.
More and more people are resorting to self help books, meditation classes or splurging on overpriced massages. Everyone needs a pick me up drink, and the night cap has turned into an afternoon cap and for some: a morning cap.
And the worse of it all: Every day, we really try to make things better, we work very hard on looking our best: we work out religiously, we stick to our daily quota of 500 calories a day and we are the first to show up at the Beymen sale every season. We also work very hard to make the money that will sustain us: overtime turns into suicidal time and we endure those evil bosses' whims and attitudes. We go out to meet new people: be it make new friends, lovers, boyfriends and of course (drum roll.. erm.. smash) husbands and wives...
We fail, then we try again, then we fail, then we pick ourselves up, absorb the lesson and try to apply all the above with a fresh new perspective.
Whether we then fail or succeed, it doesnt matter...
Because everyone is... MISERABLE!
Everyone is nursing a heartbreak and wondering 'why does this always happen to me?' well if you are dealing with people that are miserable, this is because they cant make themselves happy, so how can they make you happy? thats a huge load, climbing mount Everest is a feather compared to this.
And whats left is...yup... Miserable people!
Well.. ok.. enough sad rhetorics.. here is a more useful question..
What is happiness?
Well we can cover all the previous literature of 'happiness is .. whats inside/ in the journey/ staying calm amidst the storm/ bla bla/etc etc..
This is a multiple answer question, with many optional answers that keep adding up as you grow up..
My take on happiness is much simpler: it is in the little things.
The genius Brigitte Bardot once said : "You cant wake up saying 'I am happy' as if you are saying 'I am blonde'" she was right, its not a wig or a trip to the hairdresser that makes it.
Its the small things you get in the process, if we take the blonde example: you decide to be a blonde, you go down, get in the car, go to the hairdresser, brave the traffic, finally reach your destination, you find that the street is beyond crowded, cars are parked in two to three lanes and then suddenly out of the blue, right in front of the hairdresser's main entrance: a car pulls out of its parking space and ta da! your parking future for the next 2 hours has been secured!
THESE are the little things: going to the supermarket and finding that juice brand you used to gorge on when you were a child, or finding 50 pounds in the pocket of your winter coat, or if a child passes in front of you and waves at you for no reason.
If you start focusing on the little things from the instant you wake up till the last second before you close your eyes to sleep, i DARE you that you will find at least ten little things everyday.
I am sure that by now, you are going through your day in your head and trying to remember what 'little things did i encounter today'?
And if you are not, then you must probably be thinking how lame I am to suggest that these little things deserve more space in your head than the promotion that they robbed you of, or that loan that you have to pay by the end of the month, or that girl who cheated on you.
Well, you know what: "problems are in your head" or so said Maharishi (google him). These are your problems and you feel like you owe it to them and yourself to honor them and be miserable all the time, its embarrassing to be walking around with a smile when you have these problems with you.
Says who? Seriously.. says who?
You have been using that same formula your whole life to deal with problems, yet they keep coming back, and they feed on you somehow because they always come back faster and stronger.
Happiness is a state of mind, it is what you choose to feed inside that little head of yours. So no matter what you have right now, good or bad, it WILL go away. what you will always have is: your-state-of-mind. So..
Start focusing on the little things, open up your phone and look for those lame joke forwards, go on Youtube and type 'funny' . Find the happy people, they still exist, you have just been miserable for too long that you stopped attracting them. Call that dude, go see a lame Ben Stiller film. Go out, but if you decide to hang out by the bar, then start throwing ice cubes at people (though don't say i told you to do so when you get caught!)
I have been trying in the past paragraph to create your 'little things' for you. Now imagine if you focused a bit on the many many many (i wont stop) little things you encounter in your daily life?
Its a disease that you will happily contract, and you will start being one of those 'happy people' with their own little treasure of 'little things'..
So you have two choices now: you can read this and totally forget about it, which means that subconsciously you will find yourself complaining (about anything) in the next two hours..
or you can just.. smile! try not to analyze this too much and apply that 'refresh' button to your life..
As a treat, I will make you cheat a little on the little things quest, and give you this little gem of a website:
http://1000awesomethings.com/page/2/
