Today, while waiting in line at the food store, I read a magazine headline, "Happiness is a choice, says Michael J. Fox." I guess that could be true. Of course, you have to really believe that for it to be true. You can't, say, be a complete pessimist like myself, and wake up one day and decide to be happy. Or maybe you can. I think you need to have had a life changing event happen to you or find out you have a life changing disease. Maybe somebody out there can make that decision.
But what if your brain is wired that way? I know that the brain is a powerful instrument, and, believe me, I have used it's power to convince myself of many crazy things. But what if you are not in control of your brain, but your brain is in control of you? What if it makes the decision for you to be happy without consulting you at all? What then? Do you argue with yourself? I know, cognitive therapists believe that you do argue with yourself. Or I believe that they call it changing your way of thinking by reprogramming your own negative thoughts into positive ones. (It's sounds less crazy then saying you should argue with yourself.) But even if you decide to replace your negative thoughts with positive ones, how do you know the positive thoughts are the right ones? Whose to say everybody is meant to be happy? What if the world was full of pollyanna people, would you want to live there?
I don't have any answers today, just a lot of unanswered questions.
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