The mind is always trying to convince us we’re less happy than we actually are.

It tries to compare our soft edges to someone else’s hardened exterior, informing us that one version is better than the other. It tries to associate self-worth with ownership of the latest technology or the most commodious apartment. It tried to make us feel like the high-speed train of life is moving onwards without us.

The important thing to remember is that everything we think we know about our lives and the lives of others is based on perception. The good thing about this fact is that we have the power to severely alter this warped view of ours. We can change it from seeing grayscale to kaleidoscopic, and in doing this we convert an otherwise gloomy depression to toasty rays of golden sunlight and cerulean blue skies.  

I’ve been having a rather difficult few months trying to find a job, as I’m sure most people have. I’ve been waking up feeling hopeless and depleted of all my creative energy. It wasn’t until a new friend of mine who suffers from cerebral palsy, reached out to me and told me he’d pray for me and my job search that I received a very much needed wake-up call.

I realized that as infuriating as my problems may seem in the moment, they don’t even compare to so many others. Here I was, throwing myself a pity-party and this kind soul who’s suffering from something that I can’t even begin to fathom, and he’s the one asking God to do me right. I immediately broke into tears not only due to his selflessness but because I realized that I had complete control over my feelings. I could choose whether or not I would let my emotions pull me into the void and choose instead, to see all my bounties.

It made me realize how much our mind really does play tricks on us, making us blind to all our blessings. Most of us are brimming with things to be grateful for, but we so easily let ourselves forget. We let ourselves forget that the best is yet to come. We let ourselves forget that every time we believe an event to be impossible, we prove ourselves wrong and we conquer.

Don’t believe that voice in your head that tries to tell you the world is ugly and cruel. Don’t listen to it when it tries to tell you that you’re going nowhere fast or that you’re unworthy of all the things that make your heart dance.

Those storm clouds you see hovering from time to time are merely there to remind you of the light that exists beyond them. They are nothing but a bit of contrast and an opportunity to declare your strength.

We’re so much happier than we think we are and far more blessed. We just need to remind ourselves that the dark side of our emotions is ephemeral, and only lingers for as long as we permit it. 

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Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

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