In A Course in Miracles it says happiness is a decision we must make. Clearly some situations make us happier than others, but in the final analysis happiness stems not from this or that happening so much as from a consistent frame of mind.
Someone once told me many years ago, “You’re a sufferer.” It was a shock to me at the time and I never forgot it. He was calling me on something I hadn’t realized; that I’d developed an emotional habit pattern based not so much on circumstances as on a persistent way of interpreting things negatively. I wasn’t someone with big problems so much as I was a bit of an emotional spoiled brat.
Within ten years of that conversation I found myself in the middle of the AIDS crisis, witnessing collective human suffering up close and personal for probably the first time in my life. In the years that followed, having the privilege of being allowed into many people’s experience of the darkest hours of their lives, I saw how often those with the most painful problems had the most positive attitude. They were positive not because of their circumstances but because at a time when giving and receiving love was literally all that they had left, they practiced it fully and found peace.
There’s a lot to be cynical, and jaded, and even angry about today. But we still have a choice because we can always choose love. Today I walked into a bakery and ordered a cappuccino. The man behind the counter asked me how I was and I said, “Great! I really like Mondays. How are you?” He said he was great too, and that he loves every day. I talked for a couple of minutes with my new friend, an immigrant from Africa with a heart full of gratitude for his family, work, and friends. The conversation itself was a blessing and both of us knew it. I came home with a lot more energy from him than I got from the coffee.
What has that given me, that little practical affirmation of what’s right with the world? A lot more energy with which to stare down what’s wrong. As it says in A Course in Miracles, “Look at the crucifixion but do not dwell on it.” A positive attitude doesn’t weaken the mind. In the middle of the worst news you might see today, perhaps remind yourself that it’s Mick Jagger’s 83rd birthday, put Satisfaction or Beast of Burden or Symphony to the Devil on full blast, and raise a glass to the miracle of it all.
As my new friend at the bakery told me, “Love every day!”
(If you’re interested in studying A Course in Miracles with me, you can do so daily).
