Happy Effort

To me, happiness takes effort. It’s not something that comes automatically, especially in this consumer society.

Today, for example, I was sitting at a shoe store, reading Gandhi’s Satyagraha. Every once in a while I looked up to see girls competitively dolled up to look simultaneously slutty, classy, cool, and friendly. They were rushing around trying on new shoes to further enhance their self-image according to marketing lies. Adding to the web of deception, these shoes were on sale: the more you buy, the more you save!

As much as I would like to live in a simplistic society, I do not (yet). So I meditate to retain that peace within, to smile through my daily challenges, to be compassionate to friends, family, and strangers.

When I am swept up in those emotions, when I am overtaken in anger, grief, passion, etc. then I have lost my peace, lost my happiness. That’s why a routine helps, to remind myself to not take things so personally, to view the big picture, to maintain equanimity.

As Gwen Bell cites from What We Say Matters,

Being lost in our thoughts is our suffering.