Choosing Happy
Confession: I am a sucker for at-home workout videos. And I’ve done them all. It’s almost embarrassing…Rodney Yee–yep, I was doing Power Yoga with him before he was all, “I’m a big yoga creep.” Pilates–Ana Caban is still my girl with all the props. Tae-Bo with Billy Blanks…yes and yes. And…my favorite…Budakon. Supposedly, Jennifer Aniston said this made her lose those pesky 30 pounds…you know, the ones that kept her from looking like the skeleton with fantastic hair that she is now.
Anyway, I’ll kill myself to remember the Budakon guy’s name but he is amazing…he’s like some kinda black belt in Tae Kwon Do (I’m sure that’s spelled wrong) but super stretchy so he does yoga too. This is not the point, however. My point is he said something in one of the videos (that I basically did for 2 years straight) that has stayed with me. He used to say, “When you concentrate on something, it expands.” What?
I had images in my head of swirling power energies and chakras and auras and things. I felt I was out of my element. It was new agey and weird. But this little thought has followed me around like a nagging 2-year-old for years. So finally, I stopped to give it its due and…I think he’s right.
If you concentrate on it, it expands.
Of course. I’ve been doing this for years but I didn’t know it and actually I think it’s been killing me. Allow me to demonstrate with…a cheeseburger. Sorry all one of you vegetarians who may or may not be reading this…but one of the few things I crave hard in this world is cheeseburgers…like the, “I need it now” craving. Once I’ve established that I need that cheeseburger…it’s all I can think about. It consumes every other thought. It’s always poking around from the dark corners of my brain, asserting itself mercilessly on my poor frazzled psyche…until I get it…and then happiness. The same goes for misery and discontentment and loneliness…all that seem to be conditions brought on by reality but all that are actually my own mantras, allowed to form through the circumstances I’m in.
All of this is a long way to say, I’ve decided to choose happy. It’s a very conscious decision right now because choosing unhappy is a well-formulated awful habit I’ve picked up. But I ran a little test experiment not too long ago and, I’ll tell ya what, choosing happy works. I think the key for me was realizing that in my life, the opposite of happy is not unhappy, but worried. I somehow roll around gloriously in my worry…if I’m not worried, I start to worry that I should be. Frankly, it’s ridiculous. So, I’ve chosen strategically what and how much I’m allowed to worry about things…and I’ve actually started breathing again and everything.
Choosing happy is not easy. I’ve been trained in worry. And I’m good at worry…but it’s only taken about 17 years (alright, alright, 28 years) to realize that it’s not worth it. There is a time and place for everything.
It’s time to give happy its due. Thanks Budakon guy…whatever your name is.
