I know it sounds like a cliche from ‘7 habits’, but it is a truth. There is another truth as well that might say you should not settle for trying to figure out what there is to like about a crappy situation but instead have some incentive and energy towards changing your circumstances. In other words, maybe it is that unhappiness that some of us have that actually is the catalyst for change and growth that is needed, individually and in a group.
“The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” – James Barrie
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
>It is a good thing to see the value and possibilities within a circumstance. But it should never blind you to your feelings or to what you can do to improve or change the circumstances. The worst example of that ‘be happy’ thinking is, in our American history, the slaves’ circumstance, and after slavery was abolished, the fate of African Americans pre-civil rights. They were told, by others and from within their own community, to just go along to get along. To be patient and to be forebearing and to not raise a ruckus. But we all know it was only by raising a ruckus that the other side, who had a vested interest in all things staying the same, was forced to change and honor the civil rights of that community.
On the other hand, we have people who are consumed with consuming. Your new song points to that. They want more so they can be happy, so they can be filled. But the truth is filling up doesn’t fill them up. Buying up doesn’t buy them happiness. Being grateful for their health, their warmth of home, their family, those things get ignored due to pressure for more. That sort of wanting more or else they can’t be happy creates the valid part of the quote in my mind.
>hell yeah! I like what you said about using unhappiness as a catalyst for change! I hate it when people go on and on about how you just have to smile and enjoy everything (“choose to be happy”), when really they are in denial that there is something WRONG in their lives. In many situations, of course, it is a good idea to just choose to enjoy it and find the good things, but there is a limit. All of us have a very real limit to how much we can take before we have to make changes. And really, we might be doing a disservice to others by “choosing to be happy” when change might benefit everyone.