Hidden Power
June 3rd, 2008 Perry SandovalGrowth is simple, as any overweight person can attest. However, development takes effort. Development goes by different names such as progress, achievement, happiness, contentment. No matter which word you use you’ll find that they all take effort. Lot’s of effort. In the quest for development we all want the easy road. We all want progress just as fast as possible. Instant progress is preferred. Well at least I do. Like a moth to a flame we seem to be attracted to anyone or anything that promises lots of progress with little effort. However, the short path never seems to deliver. I have found that I don’t always have the heart to press forward as fast as possible. Even those philosophies that suggest you just let go and let it be assert that it takes effort to completely let go. Sometimes, I’m just too mentally tired or discouraged to push forward to the next level.
So, you’ve found yourself in the doldrums. Now what do you do? It’s time to exercise a characteristic that I find uniquely human. One which all religions seem to struggle with. Some find it inherently evil. Some, have guarded optimism, and feel it has great potential for good. I’m referring to your right to choose. Inside you, me and everyone else is this weird ability to make a choice. I remember one time in particular, in high school, I decided to get better grades. And that is exactly what I did. I went from B’s and C’s to 5 A’s and 1 B. How did I do that? Every day I made a choice to do better.
There was another time when I was particularly down. One day, I just got fed up with feeling down. I didn’t like it. Sometimes, when you’re down, the comfort of friends and family can get quite addictive. I decided that I’d rather be victorious over my emotional circumstances than suffer the 24 hour agony of emotional distress. I decided I wanted to be happier. So, once again I decided to be happier.
Is this the magic cure to depression and substandard performance? Maybe! But it is hard to do. I admit it, it’s very hard to do consistently. However, I’ve found hope. I’ve found that the more frequently I make decisions to be happy and not sad, the easier it gets. The more frequently that I look an unsavory situation in the face and declare, “I’m going to fight you.” The easier it gets to be happy. There are those, I suppose, who, knowing that they have only 15 minutes to live would spend their last minutes whining, crying, cursing or blaming. But do you realize that is a choice? They could just as easily choose to laugh their head off or sing their favorite song. You really don’t know what’s going to happen 15 minutes from now, do you? So, I say rejoice. Choose to rejoice. Choose to look every tough situation in the face and talk to it. Say, “I’m going to overcome you and enjoy every minute of it.” Tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, do the same thing.
You may discover that you’ve had 3 good days. Then, something knocks you off your feet. And you’re down again. That sneaky little voice says, “see it doesn’t work.” Oh yeah? What about the 3 good days. If you had 3 good days you could have 3 more good days. So, talk again. “It worked for 3 days. Maybe if I try again I can get it to work for 3 and half days.” Just keep at it. Just keep making little changes to make your life happier. Never, never, never give up!