“If you want to be happy, be.”
– Leo Tolstoy
I’ve always thought of this quote by Leo Tolstoy as a call for us to recognize that we need only decide to be happy. Indeed, happiness is a choice. We can choose to be positive in our thinking. We can choose to be grateful for what we have. We can choose to be mindful that each moment that we experience is gifted to us; and that no other moment is guaranteed. In this way, we choose to be happy.
But what if Tolstoy’s words go much deeper than that?
What if there are things that are holding us back from experiencing true happiness and fulfillment; things that merit much more contemplation than simply deciding to be happy in any given moment. What if merely choosing to be happy despite a circumstance in fact encourages us to unknowingly settle for a life in which we don’t feel fulfilled; in which we don’t feel as if we have any choice in the matter…..other than to be happy with it.
What if, instead, we choose to explore those aspects of our dreams and of our passions that we envision would unlock a world of fulfillment in our lives if we could only find the key. What if we look past our fears, expectations and any other limitations that tether us to where we are and take the steps, no matter how small, to fulfill our dreams, our purpose, our destiny. What if we actively fueled the tiny spark of passion that flickers against the raging winds of negativity and fear and set our dreams ablaze. What if we take the first steps down the path that lead to living more meaningfully and intentionally.
What if we decided to live fearlessly as our true selves, to craft a life around the very things that inspire happiness and fulfillment in us, rather than resigning ourselves to a life in which our only chance for happiness is to choose to feel it.
I propose that instead of merely choosing to be happy, we can choose to be. This will mean something entirely different for each of us.
We may choose to be more present with those that we love, to cherish each precious moment as though we fully appreciate that our time with them will forever be limited.
We may choose to be more concerned with taking care of ourselves first, blatantly disregarding society’s demands that we sacrifice ourselves on the altar of service to our jobs, our clients and our households so that we can better look after those entrusted to our care.
We may choose to be open to exploring new avenues to ignite our creativity, to step away from the constant messages, emails, conference calls and meetings that plague our waking hours just long enough to allow us to partake and even indulge in an outlet that makes us feel alive.
Some of us……we may choose to be brave enough to wrestle with a life decision that we innately know has caused a world of misery and overwhelm; to defy the expectations of our families, our colleagues and ourselves in order to let go of the things that stand in the way of true freedom, regardless of the effort, time or investment that we have initially made in bringing that life decision to fruition.
We can choose to be more intentional about how we spend our time, about what we do with the days and years given to us, about how we go about leaving a legacy of love, of touching lives and of inspiring others.
Instead of surrendering our fate to the fact that our lives will always look the way they do right now but that we can choose to be happy regardless, we can choose to chart a new course, a course only made possible by allowing ourselves the freedom to be who we know we can become if we let go of whatever is holding us back.
Only when we learn to live with more intention in every aspect of our lives will we find true happiness; happiness that is sown and grown from a decision to be.