Happiness ... a Choice?!?

Some random thoughts about happiness ...

What if God WANTS me to be happy...? What if I need to train my mind to see the good all around me ... to see the beauty in life ... to see the reasons to celebrate rather than to gripe, or to mourn ...?

(what if I don't WANT this responsibility ...? what if being a victim of circumstances is *easier*... and more *familiar*...?)

But what if happiness is NOT circumstance-dependent...?

What if happiness is a choice, that requires a decision...?

(what if my ego is right-now rising up, declaring this to be WRONG...?!? Hmmm... a clue!)

I notice that my ego does hidden battle against happiness ... I notice it prefers that I see the chaos, the calamity ... the confusion ... I notice that it's really invested in skewing my thinking so that I see the glass as "half-empty" (with a leak...!).

But, I cannot get away from what I've been learning, lo these past many months -- that the most important realization of any condition is that I am always at the brink of CHOICE -- I can always choose to perceive things differently.

I notice that whatever I focus on, I get more of it. It seems that creation is an extension of thought -- that reality begins in the mind. If I think "lack" ... I get lack. If I think "enough" or even "abundance" ... that's what I get.

Funny that ... and funnier that I don't YET trust it...!

I can hear my own egoic voice, and what I imagine could be the voices of some who are reading: "But that's just pretending -- it's not being honest to deny the negative crap that's happening!"

What if the negative "self" is not the REAL self ...? What if it's the impostor? I see that yes-indeedy, I need to get in touch with my negative feelings, but ONLY for the purpose of releasing them ... so that I can be aware of the love that's always and ever flowing beneath the cacophonous frenzy of negative confusion. Just as the "grey" skies are only a temporary, ephemeral illusion ... the sky continues to be blue -- and if I rise up "high" enough (in my consciousness), I can see it, if only in my mind's eye ...

To my ego, there is no greater "crime" than in claiming my natural inheritance ... which is joy, peace, hope, happiness, abundance, security, generosity, LOVE! It will continuously point out all the "reasons" I "should" instead have misery, confusion, despair, anxiety, lack, insecurity, selfishness, FEAR!

I'm becoming aware of the dangers of hidden beliefs ... and one of the universal hidden beliefs, it seems to me, is the belief that it's somehow wrong to be too happy...!

The collective, institutionalized ego known as religion hasn't helped matters here ... suffering has become glorified. We have been taught to fixate on the crucifixion, while all but ignoring the more-transformational resurrection...! (Did you know that the crucifixion was not focused upon, in Christianity, for the first 1000 years ... instead, the resurrection was the primary focus ... think on that.) Crucifixion without the resurrection is just a meaningless symbol of death... focused on fear. Resurrection is a shift in that perspective -- fear overcome by love -- death overcome by life.

It's SO easy to have great faith when things are going "well". But sometimes we have to fly by auto-pilot faith ... "blessed are those who have faith who cannot see," Jesus tells us. Sometimes we're in a faith-fog ... all we can see are the circumstances -- we can't see on the other side. That's when we have to trust what the Spirit has shown us (I notice that what religion has preached to us does NOT work here ... it has to be something we've known within, not heard from without).

This is a learned process -- we can LEARN to trust in happy endings ... in good resolutions ... in the reliability of miracles. When we have this faith, our trust invokes the proof of our beliefs.

It's a CHOICE.

Really.

The Talmud says, "during the time of the darkest night, act as if the morning has already come."

I mean, if I can choose to focus on the negative -- then surely I can choose again, and instead focus on the positive.

And yeah, it's harder than anything to start that shift ... when I'm eye-brow deep inn negativity, it takes gargantuan effort (so it seems) to find something to be grateful for ... something in which to derive hope ... something that inspires joy.

Negativity is SUCH a learned habit ... and harder to kick than heroine or nicotine!

The universe conspires to support us in every way ... God is always expressing His love and care for us. The problem is that we don't agree with Him ... we don't yet love ourselves as He loves us, and so we rebuke His messages ... we block ourselves from experiencing the miracles that are ever coming in our direction ...!

The world teaches us that since we are less than perfect (by appearances), we do not *DESERVE* to be happy. And so we are stuck. When good things come our way (love, success, supply, abundance), if we think we don't deserve it, we sabotage ourselves from receiving it. We cannot accept and receive joy when we believe we are not deserving.

What if it's not just our right to be happy, but our *responsibility*...? What if we are meant to be conduits of God's happiness and love ... meant to extend to others around us...?

What if happiness is a sign that we have accepted God's way of thinking, God's will?

What if hope comes as we participate in hopeful solutions..?

What if optimism and happiness are the results of choices, and the intentionality of learning a NEW spiritual perspective...?

Jesus said, "Be of good cheer -- I have overcome the world."

Nothing in this world can thwart the will and plan of God -- NOTHING!

That which comes against us is not real ... it's an illusion that WE empower with our minds.

The only reality, the only power, our only natural state: is love.

Try it on for size -- just for kicks and giggles...!

Shalom, Dena