Open Happiness

Has your joy ever been stifled by someone else's pain? Have you ever been tempted (or pressured by another) to be less happy than you feel because of the sadness in someone else's life?

Recently I was enjoying a pleasant, snowy December morning working at the church office when I learned of the death of a young parishioner's mother. A college-age person like me, he was far too young, it seemed, to have to deal with the death of a parent.

Before receiving this news, my thoughs had been focused on preparing for a church Christmas concert I was performing in. It had the potential to be a great concert, and I wanted to make my contributions as wholehearted and satisfying as possible. But how, I now wondered, could I think about and enjoy something so frivolous and carefree as a concert while someone else was going through a tragic period of suffering?

My ruminations continued, pushing the issue even further—at any given moment, I realized, millions of people around the world (and right outside my door) are enduring unspeakable pain, suffering, and tragedy. How can someone who is not experiencing such hurt possibly be happy (and try to make others happy) when his very happiness might increase their pain?

Well, read the previous sentence once more. Since when does one person's happiness increase another's pain? The only situation in which this could occur would be if the unhappy person became jealous of the happy one. This is a personal decision on the part of the unhappy person, and has nothing to do with the happy person.

There is no obligation to decrease your spirit because of another's pain.

When the bluebird of happiness chooses to perch on our shoulder, we are given a gift, and it is our mission to use the dynamic energy of happiness to help those around us.

If you are happy, your positive mood will often affect those around you in a discernibly good way—they will be warmed and uplifted by your presence. In fact, you may make more of a difference than you think. Your happiness could actually help prevent an unspeakable sort of tragedy in someone else's life, merely because of the effect you had on them. It has been said that a smile can stop a suicide. I believe those stories when I hear them. You truly never know whose life you might help change.

If someone reacts negatively to your happiness—if they lash out at you, mock you, or by any other method make you feel inferior or wrong for being happy—take heart. You have done nothing but reach out to them. Instead of letting their reaction get you down, you should resolve to stay in a mindset of peacefulness and thanks. And pray for the person as soon as you part ways.

Happily,
Joezilla

P.S.: "It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." ~W.T. Ellis