“There is nothing
either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.”
Shakespeare famously wrote these words in Hamlet. And how true these words are. For it is our thinking that makes us happy and at ease. Or otherwise. As we go through life, trying to prevail in a constantly happy state, we stubbornly blot out experiences that tell us that life is otherwise. We do this as we incessantly pursue the posit that only pleasant phenomena will make us happy.
But happiness is a mental state, not a quality inherent in material possessions or new experiences.
So rightly, whether or not something puts a smile on our face depends on what we tell ourselves.
We can firmly—and wrongly—assert that to be happy we just need more pleasing objects, relationships, and situations. Or, we can accept that wanting more inevitably leads to more wanting. And more disappointment, and frustration and, thus, more suffering. Causes with downward spiraling effects.
It’s our choice.