Choosing Happiness

Sometimes it seems like the world is conspiring to upset our well laid plans. Today is one such day. I make a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles: it is closed on Monday. I deposit checks at my new, local bank: they put a seven-day hold on all of them, since they are out-of-state. My auto insurance broker needs me to stop by yet again to close the loop on business we should have completed when I was in his office last week. In other words, I cannot seem to finish anything.

With each minor irritant, I am faced with a choice: to hold onto that irritation, or to release it. I am beginning to see how the small things are really the big things, and that sometimes I hold onto frustrations for hours, not so much consciously dwelling on them, but letting them influence the tone and flavor of my day. But if I can see it, I can choose otherwise.

What would I choose? Happiness, for a start. I'd choose to keep my heart open rather than closing it, and making enemies out of inconveniences. So, as I feel the irritation arising after a phone call that is causing me to reroute my afternoon, I make a choice: Stop. Breathe. Observe. Feel the emotion. Let it move through. Release it.

To experience the frustration when it occurs is enough. I won't let it hijack the rest of my day. I choose. I choose happiness.