How many people do you know who are truly happy, joyous, and free?
With the situations that are reported multiple times a day in the mass media worldwide on wars, criminal activity, and ruined marriages, it would not be difficult to believe that this is the norm everywhere.
I couldn’t count the number of times that I saw someone in a funk and asked “What’s wrong?” The response was similar to “Didn’t you see the news? It’s all about …..!”
In the past, I have been involved in some high-visibility situations and later saw the reporting of it on TV or the newspapers and thought that it was discussing something other than what I had been involved in.
So many times I thought “I was there and that was not what I saw and felt.” And the vise that was around my mind tightened even more.
Then, of course, I began to question reports on everything that I saw reported in the news, be it local or not. With all that is going on and the way it is being sensationalized, how can I, or anyone, be happy?
Have I got good news for you!
You can be happy, joyous, and free and, to attain this, simply change your thinking to change your life. I said simply, not easily. It may not be really easy but will give you a way of life that is so great that a rich man can’t buy and a thief can’t steal. But it will be so much better than you could have ever dreamed of before.
How can you step into this new way of life?
I began by stopping watching the news and reading news reports in newspapers and magazines. I do occasionally check headlines on my phone but rarely go into any depth.
This ceasing of checking the media led quickly to a feeling of serenity that I don’t recall having before.
I then began studying spirituality. Where did this come from? It came from watching and listening to others who had been as upset and confused as I had been and who were now living, breathing examples of the serenity that I had sought.
I learned more about my Higher Power, who I now call God.
He was not the judging, punishing entity in male, human form “Up there in heaven somewhere,” pointing His finger at me. My Higher Power was and is an energy in my heart blessing me with Divine guidance and wisdom, no matter what I call Him. God, Allah, Buddha, or whatever you wish to call It.
The AA 3rd Step says: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
Next, I realized just what the AA 3rd Step was all about. In my quest to simplify as much of my life as I was able to, I shortened the 3rd Step to simply saying “God, help me.” And then stepping aside and letting Him.
This is the simplicity that brought me from being an anxious, obnoxious slug to being happy, joyous, and free.
Thank you, God!