A Parable About Happiness or How to Be Joyful When There is Not Much to Be Joyful About




art by  digitalinkcs

 

To be happy, we need to keep the positive attitude. To keep the positive attitude, we need to disregard the negative and focus on the positive. That sounds rather easy for something as monumental as everlasting happiness! Especially, if the sun is shining, everything turns out the way we need it to, the dreams come true, and everyone around is genuinely nice.

Unfortunately,  it often rains and snows, nothing turns out the way we planned, dreams take unexpectedly long  to come true, if ever, and everyone else around is also having a tough time with life and has neither time nor desire to shower us with affection.

We can’t delay feeling happy until everything will get better. That can take a long time. So meanwhile, how do we to stay positive and even happy in face of the everyday life with its never-ending challenges?

Here is a slightly exaggerated example on how to tune out all the negativity and concentrate on the good things, even when things are not so good!

 

A Parable About a Boot

It was springtime. The birds were chirping cheerfully. The sun was reflected in puddles everywhere along the old muddy road. A man walking on it had looked rather scruffy. His shirt was old and torn in some places; his pants were greasy and had patches, his hat was of an indeterminate shape and color, and what's more, he had only one boot on! He was walking with a spring in his step, whistled a tune through a missing tooth, and smiled broadly at another man who happened to walk towards him.

The other man was a regular man. He was dressed normally. He was hurrying alone on his business. He looked respectable. He was disgusted with what he saw.

art by JamieLeigh

“Oh, come on!”, he screamed to the disheveled man, because he just could not stay quiet, “oh, would you look at yourself! You are dirty, you look like you slept in a field somewhere, and your clothes are all muddy and torn! Why on earth are you so happy? What is there to smile about? And oh, look at this, your only boot is torn, and you’ve lost your other one!”

The other man smiled even broader: “Oh no, I haven’t lost it, pal! I’ve found it!”