Why “Bah! Humbug!”?  Because life, I’m convinced, as I reflect on my birthday, is not a commodity that’s just “good” all by itself.  Life is neither good nor bad.  It simply is.  And each of us chooses to make the experience of life a good one, a bad one, or something in between. 

     The point is that behavior is always and everywhere a matter of conscious or unconscious choice.  “Good” and “bad” and “in-between” is never dropped on us from the ceiling or the sky; it is not something that “happens to” us.  We somehow choose to act and feel great, or to act and feel lousy. 

     Well, I remind myself, guess what?  That I can just as easily choose to act and feel great as I can choose to act and feel lousy?  So why would I choose misery?  I’ll never get back the time I waste feeling miserable, the “here and now” time that passes me by while I wallow in self-pity or anger.  It’s simply a waste of time and energy and life. 

     “Great!” you say, “but HOW do I get myself out of the doom and gloom upsets and move onward and upward in spite of myself?”  The answer may be simpler than the action, but even that’s a choice!  The answer is to get and keep youself focused on the present moment as much as you possibly can. 

     Upsets breed in past thoughts that become unhealthy dwelling attentions, and on future thoughts that become anxious worries . . . focusing attention on past and future can quickly transform into nonproductive fantasizing.  Worrying about what’s over and can’t be changed or what’s not yet happened and may never happen is a colossal waste of energy, and life, and totally loses the “here and now” that’s right in your face!

     LIFE IS GOOD WHEN YOU CONTINUALLY CHOOSE FOR IT TO BE.  HOW?  BY STAYING AS TUNED IN AS YOU CAN TO THE “HERE AND NOW” OF EACH NEW EXPERIENCE EACH NEW DAY.  You’d need a pretty big shirt for all that, so just write up your own version and carry it in your pocket for a week!    See you soon.      halalpiar