Fortune Cookie

Two weeks ago I had Chinese food for dinner with an old friend; I very rarely get Chinese food (Thai is a much preferred favorite of mine), so I was excited to open up my fortune cookie at the end of the meal.

"It isn't our position, but our disposition, that makes us happy."

It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at first, but then I thought about various people that I know who are unhappy with their lives and their current situations, and I finally understood the meaning behind this simple fortune. Happiness does not come from external sources; you can't find it in your job, your friends and family, your house. Sure, these things may make you feel happy, but ultimately, genuine happiness comes from within - we must create it ourselves, and we really only have ourselves to blame when we are unhappy with elements of our lives. It's so easy to blame others for our unhappiness (ie. "I lost my job" or "I had to move back in with my parents" or "My significant other broke up with me"). I know, accepting negative life changes is hard! But that shouldn't turn you into a negative person. There are so many people out there that are in must worse positions than you or me, and yet somehow these people are able to embrace life and find happiness in the littlest of things. That's because they make their own happiness; they don't let their position in life keep them down.

If you keep a positive disposition, happiness will find its way into every aspect of your life.

I may sound like I'm preaching about happiness here, but the truth is that I come across an astounding amount of seemingly miserable people on a daily basis, and it leaves me wondering what got them into that mentality in the first place. Hello! We are alive! We get to breathe, walk, and talk on this Earth! We are so lucky to be able to explore all the beautiful geological aspects of this planet, and it's even more incredible that we are able to make connections with other people every day. And yes, sometimes life is rough, but when you look at the big picture, why would you want to live most of it with a negative mentality? We need to take it all in stride - take the good with the bad - maybe then we'll find that most often times, the good overrides the bad and when we can focus on that, then we can be truly happy.