YOU ARE AS HAPPY AS YOU HAVE A MIND TO BE

You are uniquely YOU, with personality, talents and abilities, and you like DOING certain things, things that make you happy, that you enjoy, and you do them for no other reason than, you enjoy doing them, which is reason enough to do them.

And you are not alone in doing what you enjoy. Everybody does it. Everybody does things they enjoy for no other reason than that they enjoy doing them.

And then there is empathy–you feel the joy others feel (and their pain and suffering)–which is why you do not do things to others that you don’t want others to do to you. In other words, you leave people alone to enjoy their joy as long as their joy does not inflict pain and suffering on you and others. And, if you like and love people, you even do things for their joy and pleasure (maybe even expecting nothing in return except to feel their joy).

(And of course keep in mind that the principle of “Do unto other as you would have them do unto you” does not apply to crazy people who are nuts, who try to rule over you and others, try to dominate you and force you to do what they enjoy doing).

There is only really one sin, and that is unrighteous dominion–forcing people to do things against their will.

Keep in mind, that your personal misery is assured if you THINK everyone should enjoy what you enjoy, should like what you like. If you think everyone should be like you–and if they are not–you think less of them, think they are stupid, think they are idiots, and you think and speak to demean them in your eyes or in the eyes of others, you have a mental and emotional problem and as a result you are creating your own personal pain, suffering and misery. Don’t speak ill of others and you will enjoy life more.

Now...there is one other problem, and that is, what if you do not know what to do that brings you joy, that makes you happy? Many people have that problem. They just don’t know what will make them happy. THAT’S an easy one to solve at a personal level. It is easy to solve as soon as a person realizes the reason he or she is not enjoying life is because they lack appreciation. So the solution is knowing how to gain appreciation so you can start enjoying life...again

The first thing to do is start focusing on what you can do, and stop focusing on what you can’t do. That’s a BIG step, CONTROLLING YOUR THINKING; CHOOSING TO THINK CERTAIN THOUGHTS, AND NOT THINK OTHER THOUGHTS.

The second thing to do, to get rid of the depression caused by a lack of appreciation, is to COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, name them one by one: I am not dead. I am alive. I am as healthy as I am and I can do what I can do, and, from the choices available that I can do, what are the things I want to do that I enjoy? Again, at this point, some folks have a problem. They again, can’t figure out what they enjoy doing. But again, THAT problem is the result of NOT appreciating the blessings they currently enjoy, like breathing (not suffocating) drinking a cold glass of water on a hot day; moving (being able to not be a carrot stuck in the ground) seeing (not being blind) hearing (not being deaf) being able to smell, taste and feel things and being as healthy as you are, and not being as unhealthy as you could be. And that’s just for starters.

THE MAIN POINT IS: You are where you focus your attention. YOU ARE where you focus your thoughts. YOU ARE what you think, and ... life is what you think it is. AND ... KNOWING THAT, why think yourself MISERABLE when you can THINK YOURSELF happy, joyful and at peace. DON’T LET YOUR THOUGHTS TORMENT YOU, DEPRESS YOU OR MAKE YOU UNHAPPY.

START APPRECIATING WHAT YOU ARE ABLE TO DO and stop focusing on what you can’t do. nem.