Peace Tip of the Day

Stop trying to be happy all the time.

Happiness is relative. Relative to your situation. A kid on Christmas is happy, and we think that as adults we outgrow that. Completely false. That feeling simply shifts to other things. To money, to love, for example.

The difference is that the kid doesn't put so much pressure on him/herself to experience this feeling. If a child doesn't wake up in the morning with new toys he doesn't mope. He doesn't get depressed. Because he hasn't given himself this ever-rising bar called the standard of happiness. Each day is new to him. And he'll be damned if he doesn't make the best of it.

As adults, however, we feel we deserve happiness. That each day should be spent chasing it. We expect it.

When a kid wakes up in the morning he doesn't expect wonderful things to come his way. He makes wonderful things happen.

See there? Adults don't get what they expect and kids get what they don't expect. A beautiful mirror image.

I say we all just slow down. If you're feeling down, dammit LET yourself feel down. Stop chasing ecstasy, leave that to the drug addicts. You know the saying: Laughs wouldn't feel as good without the tears. That shit's true.

"It comes down to simple choice, really: Get busy living, or get busy dying."
-Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption

Happiness is a fucking mirage to me. It's like a deceptive mask, like something used to describe the indescribable, never a chance to do it any justice. I'm not sure what word it's hiding, words like contentment and satisfaction sound even uglier.

I guess it's peace.

I love that word.