FrankenPost (re: Open Up Already)

Posted by nicopolitan
December 1, 2009

I loved the responses I got from a couple of posts back, so I thought I’d try this little Dada-esque game that involves paraphrasing, changing the voice, and writing a new post composed of the comments, which furthermore promotes link love. It has yet to be seen if this will all make sense, but I’m going to do it anyway.

On with the show!

One can choose to be happy or one can choose to be right, and most people habitually choose to maintain control of the situation even though clinging tightly to that control denies them the happiness of just going with the flow.

It’s kind of like how a lot of people are afraid to be in love. Some of us have been in “love” and then had it all come crashing down, screaming, thunder, probably some lightning bolts shot down on it too and for a good while we would be afraid to try somebody new. We’d get too scared to label it as something in case we lost it again. But maybe what’s better is being able to label it – and holding on to it. We can enjoy it so much better while embracing it, and fully acknowledging that it COULD be gone just makes us appreciate it that much more while it’s ours.

Happiness comes in a variety of forms. It can find us when we least expect it, and what makes us happy at one point in time might not make us feel the same at another.

Maybe it’s really just a question of semantics. We probably have all we need to be happy, and can call it what we like, as long as the concept of what “happiness” means doesn’t stop us from taking a risk once in a while.

Whatever hoops we have to jump through to maintain happiness are fine. Keeping quiet to ourselves about it–or even lying to ourselves–isn’t such a bad thing, so long as the state persists and we aren’t lying to others.

From what we can tell, so far anyway, is that the practice of contentment – santosha – is more important than the feelings of happiness. The idea suggests a lot about not attaching ourselves or emotions to anything, but acting more as observers and making sure our own actions contribute to the good of the whole, etc., than to our own feelings of happiness.

We should just accept happiness as a fleeting experience. Contentment lasts much longer. Accepting that those moments of happiness are more random leaves us free to enjoy them without fear of losing my happiness. We know we will lose it. We also know it will come back. Like the tides and stuff.

Maybe we shouldn’t aim for happiness since happiness is a benefit of aiming for more tangible things. We should be always on the move; always trying. Happiness comes when we are accomplished. But if we sit there, basking in happiness, we’ll start to feel like something else was passing us by.

People who are happiest don’t think too much about it.

Happiness is for suckers anyway. The cool kids know that having contentment and satisfaction are where it’s at.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Internet, Social Media

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7 Guests On The List

  1. verybadcat says:
    December 1, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    very sweet! and thanks, i actually needed more blogs to read. google reader is hungry. ;)

    Reply
  2. redFred says:
    December 2, 2009 at 6:48 am

    Wow, thank you for the quote, Nico. I’m really honored you thought that highly of my comment.

    Reply
  3. Amy --- Just A Titch says:
    December 3, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Gah! Great indeas and quotes…love it. Doniree and FrancoBeans especially—amazing. Love this idea, Nico.

    Reply
  4. Alex Roda says:
    December 3, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    This post makes me happy =D

    Reply
  5. cari says:
    December 10, 2009 at 9:51 am

    i used to hate the word happy. being one who has depression, a lot of people would say ‘can’t you just be happy?’

    erm. no. it don’t work that way.

    so i began a quest of finding contentment. contentment is something much more in one’s control. i can choose to be content no matter what’s going on. that is something i can do. happiness? it’s a nice idea, but i don’t find it overly logical or compelling or anything like that. i find happiness to be somewhat of a nuisance. or at least the unrealistic idea of it. yeah, i’m happy sometimes. genuinely happy. but i’d rather be content MOST of the time. content and satisfied.

    you hit the nail on the head, friend.

    Reply
  6. Emily Jane says:
    December 14, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Hey I never saw this one – thanks for the link! I’m looking forward to reading some of the others on the list too :)

    Reply
  7. Phil says:
    December 21, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    Hella awesome. For some reason my feedreader missed it, but thanks to wordpress links I found it.

    Reply

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