Mindset is the tune, happy is the dance: should you dare to Charleston, enjoy the moment, not the applause.
I delight in shutting the door in 2019, especially, but more so find myself roaring to “ragtime” as I choose 2020 to be my determining and pivotal, life-changing decade of HAPPY. This “happiness” starts with my mindset to be happy and thrives only with conviction, irrespective of the agendas and judgments. The mindset I’ve adopted may likely be the greatest influencer on the outcome. If happiness is a byproduct of good-living, I will be happy living a life of good. Well-intended, admirable and skilled work are key components, but guarantee nothing. A mindset to enjoy the process and not the work product of the good living alone, bolsters even lackluster results a success, if time spent valued the satisfaction enjoyed in actioning itself.
Beyond willing it so, I am committed too to enjoying thinking, meaningful action, meritorious freedom and choice, and seriously hard work, because I refuse to be miserable while happy! I will not dwell on any pre-2020 players, any dispositions, entrapments and obstacles in perceived reality. Finally, I will concede that my attaining happiness depends simultaneously on the rigorous pursuit and total non-attachment to “results.” While there’s no ceiling on happiness, lasting contentment depends in part only on the choices we exercise, afforded in part only by the freedom we assert. Once a life choice is made, let go of the results.
Accepting that control is but an illusion is vital to its fruition, while lasting happiness requires relentless follow-through. Exhausting, but rent is due every day – even on the potential of maintaining life! Any life “control” I have is at best 80% surreal and 20% elusive. I control only my decision to being happy now and commitment to being as happy as metaphysically possible for life. Optimizing opportunities and good-living contributions towards my life’s circumstances, without attachment or expectation, is the first right choice and I am making with the greatest fervor. Nothing else in my power determines how I will thrive or die throughout our journey.
My intent is but foundational. My merit is required, but not all influencing. My mindset is what sustains – acceptance, non-attachment and tolerance prove substantive when curated in mindset. I intend to work for as much freedom of choice as possible (to be eligible for merit-based rewards). Whether my merits may or may not effectuate a better life, the right mindset can effectuate better living.
I choose to embrace every moment ahead for a life lived on life’s terms (albeit not always a joy ride), that’s infinitely superior to a life endured or spent in retrospect. Forfeit that choice, and my empowerment, joy and happiness spiral down. Utility of freedom is paramount. Physical and mental health often beget freedom and the corollary choices afforded. My health and quality of life are directly interdependent on one another, and a significant aspect of my life over which I can have direct, contributing control. Although no facet is exempt from the arbitrary or fated misfortunes inherent therein, only with mindful “responses” to what life throws can I best maintain a sound mind and well-functioning body. I can and must do the footwork, and also trust outside myself too. The same amount of directed effort can leave me worse-off if absent an assuring and affirming perspective.
My mindset can yield less suffering and greater potential to achieve my purest state of happy. I choose a mindset to never stop bettering myself, being of service to my fellows, and to stop grasping that not in my control. Almost instantly, life is more beautiful and more rooted in connection – with ourselves, each other, our world. When life is a painful mess, I will remember that bliss is impossible without struggle. Tough times are not to feel sorry for myself or blame others.
The potentially beneficial utility of my actions or inactions relative to all life’s happenings – big, small, earned, imposed, fair and unfair – hinge on my ability to not “react” mindlessly, but “respond,” even with my respective-little potential to control. My mindset, or response, is all I’ve got! In 2020, I choose to reside in a “sockdollagers” or “humdinger” dawning of the new-era, decidedly swing-dancing for happiness with a gangster-strong mindset. I hope you are at the same party!
