I’m generally perceived as a very happy person and in many ways I am a very happy person now. Of course, most of my friends would think that there is nothing to be upset about; my life is pretty awesome at this moment – I’m living abroad and having so much fun without much worries other than what to cook for dinner. But I haven’t been this way all my life.
I used to have a lot of people that I feel very angry about. People who have done me wrong, or people that are just plain annoying. Or stress from work – things not going well or even things that I’ve done wrong; I would play my errors over and over again my mind. Then there was family – I don’t have the best relationships with my siblings.
I guess over time I have found some peace with myself but staying happy – it still takes work. Now and then, I still feel anger at some people or even with myself. It’s not really a matter of getting to a better stage in life or having more money. Yes, of course that helps. But it also takes hard work and constant effort to stay happy.
I know a lot of people recommend meditation to calm your mind and expel all that anger, but I’ve tried and I can’t because I can’t sit still and breathe – my mind wanders off and starts thinking of a lot of weird things such as zombies climbing up the window into my house. I’m weird but it’s okay because I’m aware of it.
Some of the simple ways that I’ve found helped calm me are doing some exercise (and I prefer yoga) or hanging out with friends whom you know will lift up your spirits (but don’t spend all the time complaining). I also like to read a good book, though I prefer to re-read books that I’ve already read before and I know will make me feel happy or safe.
And last but not least, it’s also coming to an understanding and reminding yourself that things happen for a reason. We might not understand the reason right now, but one day we might. Things going wrong in our lives – I think of that as a reminder to stop for a moment and think how we could make it right rather than focus on what is wrong.
Also, we keep focusing on ourselves, but why not think about why others act in the way they do? I used to get so angry at colleagues who steal my ideas or bow down to their superiors. I don’t bow down to my superiors and I always speak my mind, but perhaps other people don’t have the luxury to do so – they need to keep their jobs or perhaps they have some insecurity issues. They have problems. Now I’m just glad that I’m not them.
I don’t know why I decided to write this post – perhaps from seeing so many people and friends around me feeling so angry all the time with so much animosity in them and sometimes I just want to tell everyone to chill. Life doesn’t have to be so hard. Take a break and think of all the happy things, rather than focus on the bad ones.
The Good Life Bunny 