Happiness…yours to have and protect.
Ezekiel 47
“But swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.”
A regular practice of mine when I am filled with anxiety and self doubt is to open the bible and I pray that I come upon a verse that guides me and provides me opportunity to reflect. Today I came upon Ezekiel 47. Basically this passage speaks about a river flowing through the temple of Jerusalem bringing life and healing to the surrounding land and sea. Turning the salt water into fresh water. The river source is the power of God. It is a metaphor. Those that stay in the swamp area not touched by the river (God) will forever be left salty and barren. Metaphor that people who don’t accept God and the goodness he brings will remain in a spiritual desolation.
This passage had a lot of meaning for me and I reflected on the interactions I have experienced. Have you ever been around someone that everyone can clearly see is not in a good mood and always seems angry. I know what it is like to be in that state of mind. You literally are irritated by everyone and everything you interact it. I experienced that in my own life and it wasn’t until I hit bottom and leaned towards my faith did I come out of that state of mind and truly adopted a more servant approach to my life. It wasn’t until I tried to approach things from a place of caring instead of anger. What can I do to help someone?
As I get older I really try to remove people I consider toxic from my everyday. The ones who complain all the time. There are definitely situations you will have to interact with people who are just miserable and seem to choose to stay in that mindset. I find these type of people exhausting to be around and drains my mental health.
“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it”
The only person in control how they go through this life is yourself. Ask yourself these questions…
Are you taking an ‘active’ approach to your life or being ‘passive’?
What are our goals/values?
Do your actions contribute to your goals/ values?
Identify what you can control. The things you are getting angry about is it something you can control, and if not why get mad about it?
Cultivate growth mindset. Are you able to embrace new experiences, change in your life and work on personal development?
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
In my experience many times people who are sad and angry it is a result of comparing their life situation to someone else’s. When people post on social media they post the best version of their lives and it is not a true reflection of what is happening behind closed doors. So stop comparing yourself to other people in your life whether it is a friend, schoolmate, co-worker or some random person you see on social media. Stop worrying what everyone else is doing and focus on what you are doing and does it align with your goals and values that you have set for yourself?
So if you find you are drained at the end of the day by the people you are surrounded around and you can’t remove them from your life then you must control how you react to them and not let them drain you mentally.
One thing I myself am still working on in my day to day is dealing with the feeling I am responsible for everyone else’s happiness. It leads to me feeling drained and affecting my mindset. I know I need to focus on creating a positive and respectful environment and control my own emotions and remind myself I am not responsible for anyone else’s happiness. Nor are they responsible for mine. This is what often causes resentment in marriages too. They give the responsibility of their happiness to their partner.
So know that in your life you will encounter all types of personalities and it is not your job to change them or make them happy. It is ok to protect your own peace and focus on your reaction to situations you are put in and protect your happiness.
