Reclaiming Happiness: Our Greatest Freedom

There has been a subtle building of negative emotion within me over the past week, which I haven't been able to pinpoint entirely until yesterday mid-morning, when I heard myself voicing a laundry list of concerns and worries to my best friend Jenny during a lengthy heart-to-heart phonecall. I've never been big on following the news, partly because I tend to be too wrapped up in my own little world, but mostly because I find it overwhelmingly depressing to hear about all of the terrible, horrible things going on in the world around me.

But during the past several weeks, I've been turning more and more to world news reports, as my daily "staff meeting discussions" (a.k.a. English practice for Harrison and Terry) have focused on U.S. politics, the upcoming election, recent plummets in the economy, hurricanes and natural disasters, and concerns over the stability of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il. There has been no end of bad news in sight. And unfortunately, being exposed so many problems and their potential effects within a relatively short period of time has not left me unscathed.

It all came tumbling out yesterday, in what turned out to be more of a vent session than a mutually uplifting chat. Which got me thinking... What good can come of filling your mind with such pessimism? Sometimes information is not power, but a hindrance. There has to be some way of being aware of the world's happenings without getting pulled into the powerful vortex of negative thought. What I heard myself saying as I spoke with Jenny was, beyond anything else, fear of the unknown, wondering how I would respond, adapt, survive, thrive, if the world as we know it were to suddenly and drastically change? What if the economy suddenly crashed? What if war broke out in North Korea, just a few hundred kilometers away? What if, what it, what if...

So it was perfect timing that I finished reading an incredibly simple yet profound book called "Zen and the Art of Happiness," written by Chris Prentiss. I took it with me to Seoul last weekend, and finished it in the quiet space of early morning today, while still wrapped underneath my thin cotton bedsheets. The central message of this book can be summarized in one very important sentence: "Everything that happens to me is the best possible thing that can happen." Regardless of whether an illness befalls you, or you lose your job, or a friend, or your right arm, the path to happiness is as simple as acting as though whatever is causing the difficulty is for your maximum benefit. Not trying to find a shred of good that you can salvage from your miserable circumstances. Instead, actually believing that every event which comes to you is absolutely the best possible event that could occur, and that there is actually no other event that could benefit you any more than the circumstances you are currently experiencing.

Those are big thoughts, and quite unattractive to wrap your head around if you're used to perceiving life as most of us tend to do -- a series of hurdles to jump through, challenges to face, and uphill battles to fight. I am grateful to say that some time ago I removed myself from the grip of these limiting thoughts. Still, as this week has shown, my personal weaknesses can lead me back into the cloud of pessimism and confusion that stunt my ability to experience happiness in my life.

As I contemplate the unknown, the constantly shifting world around me, and my place within it, I have to acknowledge that thus far in my life, I have benefited incredibly from the experiences (which we humans conveniently label as "good" and "bad"), that life has presented to me. And as I had an opportunity to discuss with one of my middle school classes yesterday, the happiness that we feel within from one day to the next does not depend on anything other than our very own selves, our very own minds. We are truly the authors and creators of every next moment of our lives. We bring into our lives the energy and gravity of hope, happiness, and positive thought, or the energy and gravity of its polar opposite: fear, unhappiness, and negative thought.

I shared with them the inspirational story of Victor Frankl, a well-renowned psychologist and university professor who survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust, due to his diligence in maintaining a mindset of hope and belief, even amid such terrifying and unthinkable circumstances. He later went on to write a book entitled "Man's Search for Meaning," in which he elaborates on the one simple truth that paved the way to his mental, spiritual, and physical survival of the camps: Man's last freedom, the freedom which no one can ever take from you, is his response in any situation.

Browsing the Internet this morning, I came across a well-written weblog article that caused me to also stop and reflect on this power within us to choose happiness. In it, the author, a writer and traveler named Lee, shared his powerful response to visiting Tuol Sleng, a children's school turned into a living graveyard for prisoners during Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime. I too had an emotional reaction as I read his words, my mind harking back to the vivid images, sensations, and feelings I kept with me during a viewing of the film "The Killing Fields", which I watched a year ago.

I cannot help but feel my own struggles, fears, and worries pale miserably in comparison when I am reminded of the challenges that countless others have faced, and continue to face, as they live out their lives in war-torn and poverty-ridden nations throughout the world. Yet even despite such extreme circumstances, the human spirit and its capacity to find meaning, hope, and happiness, prevails. It is a powerful message to each of us, isn't it? Happiness is... all around us, percolating inside us, holding its outstretched hand out to us, patiently, faithfully calling to us. My life is too precious to me to spend my days feeling trapped beneath the weight of endless worries. Thank you Chris, Victor, and Lee, for reminding me of what I had forgotten. I choose happiness.