Be Happy for Me

March 16, 2012 — gratitude

By Eric Eagen

Last week I read a post that talked about how negative and jealous we often get. The point was for us to celebrate the happiness of others.

What a concept.

We live in a world where we find a way to be critical of others no matter what the choice.

If people decide to live frugal and are so happy doing it, we call them cheap, we say they live scared, that they “don’t really live”.

If people decide to spend big, and spend time keepin up with others, we mock them for that “with their big fancy cars, and unhappy lives”.

We do this all the time, don’t we? We judge how others, we tell each other about “them”, without any real consideration to how they are doing it, or if they are happy doing it.

How about if someone you know gets a new house? A fancy boat? Are we at first thrilled and excited for them? Or, are we looking for ways to judge them about it?

We do this in running to. I get caught doing this. I look at other runners, and if they run a certain time, I am like “YO I could do that”. We get mad at other runners, then we get mad at ourselves, then we just get mad overall. We mock people who run in all cotton, we mock people who are all decked out in Tri gear for a local 5k, we talk about short shorts, and big runners, and thin runners.

I am so guilty of this. I am also really working on it. I want to celebrate the happiness of others, I think it brings us to another level if we can try to stay positive. It helps with everything we do.

I have found when we start to get negative, it surrounds us. It takes over what we are doing and why we are doing it. If someone elses happiness is driving us mad, we need to take a good long look at ourselves and see where our values and perceptions are.

Why are we MAD at someone else who is having success? The internet makes it easy to be jealous of what others have. We spend so much time thinking and complaining about others that we often forget to think about how good we have it ourselves.

Live in the now, stay happier, stay healthier. It is time to celebrate the happiness of others… If we do for them, maybe, just maybe they will for us.

It’s sunny and warm out today. I will run in shorts and a t-shirt today. If you have crappy weather, be happy for me, I will be happy when it is your turn!

Give it a try, then keep on keepin on!