What Happiness Is Not!

But what happens if our day got off to a bad start? Say we eased into the usual traffic jam and some lunatic started shouting and honking at us? We feel intimidated and upset; scared he might get out of the car and hurt us. That’s sure to get the day off on the wrong foot!

After that, everything seems to go downhill. The traffic is so bad we know we’re going to be late for work and start worrying about getting into trouble with our boss. It turns out that we are, and now we’re responsible for his foul mood. We have 50 reports to get out in an hour and the photo-copier jams. And that’s only the beginning, things just seem to go from bad to worse and we end the day feeling exhausted, fed-up and sick and tired of it all. We just want to get home and forget about it.

The more these thoughts take hold of us, the more we wish we could just run away from it all. The endless repetitive days, the constant struggle to keep on going, the meaninglessness, the lack of joy. Most of us are able to pull ourselves together and work hard at thinking that tomorrow will be better; that everything will be OK and that we’ll get by. But what if we can’t?