"Wow. Can you believe this PJ?" My mother sighs out while watching yet another round of her choice news-source. I shake my head, "Mom, turn it off. Why do you keep watching crap that makes you angry?!" She laughs, and goes right back to watching count-down timers for blackbox battery life or counters for days overdue for the Los Angeles 'big one'. USE A FORK? YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS! She's constantly in a state of worry, a lot of my friends and family are. In a society that hears "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE DRINKING WATER!" everyday why wouldn't you be?
"BREATHE AIR?! WHAT SCIENTISTS ARE FINDING OUT ABOUT THE AIR IN YOUR HOME!!!" I started to wonder about why we've come to this point. Why have we become a people so interested in being afraid of everything? If I follow all of their instructions, i'd just live in a bubble and never leave.... Sure, I may be safe, but is that 'living'?
"AFTERNOON WALK?! YOU MAY BE GETTING MORE THAN JUST A TAN! WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE SUN!!!" All I need to know about the sun is that it's been there illuminating the Earth for trillions of years, and that people have been walking under it for billions. It's not a problem.
And we choose to be in this paradigm, that really gets me. I've had to really help some friends out recently where this mindset is simply getting to be too much and I'm seeing rampant depression setting in amongst them. I'm trying to save them, one by one, from this death spiral of non-sense. "Stop watching the news!" "Create the happiness you want in the world!", and they'd look back, "Don't I need to know? Don't I need to be 'real' with myself?"
No! You don't. Why do anything that doesn't fully inspire you to live your life to the fullest everyday.
Your happiness is a direct product of your choice to be. It doesn't matter if you're living in a mansion in the hills or living paycheck to paycheck in the slums. You want to be happy? It's your choice. You can choose fear and worry, or choose happiness and inspiration. Today. RIGHT NOW!
The next time you hear another "SLEEP IN A BED?! WHAT THE MANUFACTURER DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!!!" tell it to shut the hell up, turn it off, and remind yourself... You are a happy person today. :)
So there... And it didn't even cost you 3 easy payments of $39.95.
So have a AWESOME day!
--Paul Jacob Evans