Why Strive To Be Happy?

I’ve always loved Desiderata.

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons…”

Our 6th-grade teacher made us memorize it, and in a very good way, it has been words to live by.

The last verse says:

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”

It didn’t occur to me until now to question, strive to be happy.

Why strive? Is being happy really that hard we need to make great efforts to achieve it?

We do have our crosses to bear, challenges to conquer, and problems to solve but isn’t being alive a good enough reason to be happy?

Sometimes, I get too attached to wanting this and that, I also forget the most important thing of all, my family, good health, and good relations.

In wanting to have more, we sometimes forget to be thankful for what we do have… and that’s sad.

It is sad when we allow all the material possessions and money to engulf us and our decisions.

It is sad if we get too attached to our future and dark imaginings.

It is sad to live out of fear, anxieties, and worries because we do not acknowledge the gift of today, our present.

It is sad if we continuously confine ourselves to our own boxes we forget to stretch, reach out, and move out of our own solitary places.

It is sad if we allow ourselves to be defined by our past and be trapped to resentment, resistance, and revenge.

It is sad because we are choosing to hold on to our own high ideals, pride, and righteousness we couldn’t surrender to great possibilities.

It is sad we can’t wake up in the morning with a smile on our faces because God woke us up to live another day.

It is sad we don’t appreciate the air that we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat…

It is sad I can go on and on of things we could be happy about but choose not to see, hear, or feel.

But, I know you know the truth… we really don’t have to strive to be happy when simply being grateful will let us be.

Let’s choose to be happy!

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