Choice

You choose your happiness.

Most of us are very familiar with this quote. But let me tweak it a bit.

We choose our pain.

We choose our sorrows.

We choose our sadness.

Its the innate emotional response of any human.

Thinking back to our childhood or even our turbulent adolescence, we have vague memories of being happy. But strikingly clear memories of screaming into our pillows or droning out our pain with loud music our parents hate. Our sad memories are precise. The feeling acute. The pain threatening to surface with our neurons firing at high velocity at even the slightest remembrance of anything even remotely connected to the incidents.

The song you cried to, the smell of your no–longer–lover’s perfume, the dish cooked by your favorite aunt who is no longer there to hug you when you visit—they are strong enough to fill you with a deep pain of loss. We may smile at our fond memories but don’t the sad ones wreck your heart?

That’s because our brains are partial to pain and suffering and sadness. We, hence, have an affinity to hold on to anything that hurt. We are sorry little creatures with the ability to make choices and we choose to hurt. Its easy to be sad. Funny, isn’t it? .

That’s why its important to choose happiness. Its audacious, going against how we are set. To break the mold. To beyond. To choose what isn’t easy to choose. It takes courage. It requires constant effort to choose the ever transient happiness. To press forward to that happy song from the lure of replaying the sad song.

So the next time, cry your heart out when you’re sad. But please don’t forget to smile too. Choose when you still can make a choice. And choose to be happy. Put an effort to be happy. Because as Hayao Miyazaki said,

Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.