to be happy

pencil on paper

All living beings have the right to relax and be happy. Such a statement should be unnecessary, except that often people torment others, as if to imply one should not be happy. This leads to a vicious cycle of fearing to be happy and resenting those who have the courage to be happy. The person who is afraid to be happy might sink into a long-term low level misery that makes the person jealous or angry of those who appear to be happy. Misery prefers the company of the miserable. In being happy, the happy person is a living criticism of the person who chose to be unhappy. The unhappy person might view the happy person as being immoral, irresponsible, selfish. The person devoted to misery could choose from a long list of moralistic adjectives to disparage the happy person.


    During a time of being in dire straights, to not crack under pressure, Lohbado realized he had no choice but to be happy. If he conceded to confused beings who live in fear of happiness, he would go crazy. While crossing the Plains of Radiation years ago, his survival strategy was to embrace happy moments as they occurred and to respect his inner strength, intelligence, goodness and dignity as a human being.

    The classic recipe for happiness is to respect oneself and care about others. The more one opens one’s mind in willingness to understand others, the greater the possibility of compassion taking root in one’s heart. Compassion enlarges one’s mental horizon beyond the limitations of self-interest. The more one cares about others, the more one is likely to find happiness. The first step in caring about others is to wish that others could be happy. This goes against the way of misery, which is to be jealous and angry when others are happy and to be glad when others suffer. The way of misery precludes happiness.