Smile While You Bleeding
Not wanting to seem negative and as one who complains all the time (since most of my blogs are more often than not critiquing certain issues), I thought of writing something on a more up-beat topic: “Happiness”. I think I had to do it anyway since I carry the name. Yet, many people have written on this subject and I for one promote Angello Belliotti’s book: “Happiness is Overrated” right on my profile page. He covered the topic better than anyone else so, read his book for an in-depth look at “happiness”. Therefore, I will only add here a couple of my thoughts to this concept of “happiness”; I will not dissect the subject in a Kantian method.
There are countless, seminars out there and self-help books on how one can attain happiness. Some people look to friends for happiness, some go shopping or fishing. Drugs may help, temporary … To make a quick parenthesis regarding drugs and happiness: my sister told me when I was sixteen or seventeen that “you can get a lot higher without drugs than with drugs”. I had no clue what she meant. It took me probably close to ten years to understand what she had said then. I got it now though and it’s sweet!
It is my opinion that happiness is a state of mind and nobody but me controls my state of mind. Sure people can upset me or aggravate me but only for a few moments because when I realize that I am getting upset (for example), I make the decision to be happy. I realize this sounds very abstract but being “happy”, “sad”, “pissed-off’ or whatever, is really nothing but our mood or our state of mind as I like to call it. So, it is of our own choosing on how we want to really feel.
The best way to understand this I think is to think of the title I chose for what I have written here: “Smile while you bleeding”. This is a line from K’naan (everyone knows him now after doing the anthem song for this year’s FIFA World Cup) song “Smile”. I first heard the song about eight years ago or so when I had a friend working in the music industry and she passed me his debut album asking me what I thought of it. I really liked this song because I felt his pain but I also knew as he did that showing weakness in certain situations will only bring hyenas closer. There is really no point in being unhappy; it is detrimental in so many ways!
Now, I simply chose to be happy whatever happens. Life is as it is and I try to do what I can (while being happy). I make that choice. No point in being grumpy, I would gain nothing from that and it would make me feel ... uncomfortable.
