Grateful, the number one word used by people to "help" others when they are down. Trouble is it doesn't help. Would the idea of being more miserable than you are help cheer you up? Would you say to someone with a broken leg, "you should be grateful you didn't break both." Do they feel any better? nah I didn't think they would.
I should say before I babble on any further. I am being slightly flippant. I apologise in advance. I'm not smart enough to find another way of making my point.
What I'm trying to say, is another poor soul's plight isn't really going to help you. It will just make you feel worse about yourself and how ungrateful you are. Treating a negative with a negative doesn't in this case equal a positive (I wish to state at this point my hatred of Algebra but that's another future post :-)). Lets be inspired to better health and not despised.
So we know there are people worse off than us but do we ever consider those better off ? Is it not a better idea to study them to find ways to help ourselves?
What have they got that I would like to have?
Hair. It's been a long time since I owned a comb or sat in a barbers chair and chewed the fat, that's generics for you. I could develop a passion for hats though. I know it's not the same but "the dude in the hat" sounds way better than "the bald dude."
Happiness. I could smile more often. It's free. MissG says I sound miserable on the phone so I smile before I dial her number and it seems to work. The other day an elderly customer of mine said "You're a cheerful chappy" it stopped me in my tracks and after I thought is she after a discount? I realised I was in fact feeling good that day. She made me tea and we sat and chatted for a while and swapped the good and bad stories of our lives. Which made for an interesting day. All because she made a chance comment and I was smiling!
Wealth. Now I'm getting in to deep murky waters. Is it their money I want, will that make me happy or is it what their money buys. What the feck is wealth anyway. Isn't it lots of little things combined together that gets called wealth. I think I need to pull wealth apart and find out the elements I would like. Off the top of my (bald behatted) head, peace of mind springs in. The oppuntinity to relax and switch off for a while ( I don't need a deserted beach for that do I? it could cause me problems with sun burn on my bald head anyway).
So now I have something positive to think about today. I feel better than I did twenty minutes ago. Smiling's free, getting up and trying something again is free and again and again and again. It's free and the prize for achieving after all that trying is priceless :-)
Once again I'm sorry if you think I'm over simplifying the whole misery thing. I just wanted a snack and not the whole three course meal. If you want someone to blame then it's Jojesek's fault. She left a comment on my Vito post, about being inspired and that got me thinking. You are in soooooooo much trouble Jo!
Onwards and upwards in the pursuit of happyness :-)
Uh oh! How did I become responsible for this? Personally I think oversimplifying is severely underrated. I tend to overthink everything and get mired down in the details. As for wealth, I don't need to be rich, I would just like to have enough money to allow for a cushion, you know? Like an emergency fund and maybe some savings. I also think beaches are over rated sitting in the hot sun is not my idea of a good time but hey, switching off in my living room works for me.
ReplyDeleteThere you go again giving me more idea's "In praise of oversimplifying." :-)
ReplyDeleteThe money thing is a conundrum, how much is enough? What about if we lined up all the usual suspect? Happiness, Being Loved, Money, Hair <- my blog so I'm allowed :-) Good Health etc
You can only choose one. In fact money comes 4th on my list (it was a close run thing with hair though but Money = plenty of hats, so it just won)