Have you ever met one of those people who is always miserable, no matter how good his or her life is? An Eeyore sort of person? Now be honest, how often have you been one of those people? Of course, we all have. I'm certainly guilty. A friend calls it the "Poor Lil Old Me" syndrome, or PLOM.Why do we do it? We all know how we feel when someone else is miserable for no reason, often ruining a perfectly good day. We also know that it definitely doesn't help anyone. Perhaps we are afraid of happiness. "Now that's silly," you might say, "what is there to be afraid of with happiness? Isn't that what we all want?" Well, there is plenty to be afraid of with happiness.
Humans are creatures whose society is built on change. For the most part, there aren't any cultures that don't strive to improve, change, and grow. Humans thrive on change and improvement. Imagine if we reached a point where no more improvements could be made, and everyone was happy. A utopia, if you will. What would we do then? What would be out motivation; maintenance? I can't believe that that would be enough for the human race.
Does this mean that negativity and misery are essential to overall happiness? Is that not a paradox? Not necessarily. How do we know happiness without unhappiness? How do we know health without sickness, warmth without cold, or light without darkness? But that's another discussion.
I will leave you with this: Are you brave enough to be happy?
