As Miserable Or As Happy As We Choose To Be

One of the things I've learned from watching somebody who lives with pain for 30 years now is that pain is unavoidable in life. We cannot avoid heartache, pain, sorrow, loss, and grief. We can't.

It's going to come. But we can avoid joy. We can avoid happiness.

And I've learned that we can be as miserable or as happy as we want to be regardless of what's going on around us. We have to look at difficult things. I do.

You do. Not easy things to look at. Not easy things to endure. They're grim. They're harsh. They're frustrating.

But you know what? We don't have to be grim. We don't have to be harsh. We don't have to be frustrated. We can learn to take it as it is.

Breathe a little slower in it. Respond, not react. When we react, we just pop it off at it.

But when we learn to respond, we're doing it from a healthy, centered place. And we can do this. It takes a little time. It takes a little practice. But you can do this. And we're going to give you the vocabulary. We're going to give you the tools.