Accepting what is...

This weekend we had this lady staying at the hotel. You could always tell when she was in the lobby from her shrieking voice. How it got through those pursed lips I'll never know. But the woman was never happy, and she was never quiet about it. Often, in the service industry, you come across people who like to complain, whine, bicker, what have you, just to hear the sound of their own voice. It's like one of my coworkers, who is almost always dressed in a scowl, looking for something to feel threatened by. Why? Why would a person do this to themselves- make themselves miserable? It makes you unhappy, the people around you unhappy, it certainly makes me less likely to lower your room rate, and it makes your face look ugly. So, why do it?

Well, in thinking about it, I decided it is because they just don't know any better. They don't understand that happiness doesn't just happen. Because you have the right amount of money, a great body, the perfect boyfriend, or any other number of worldly attributes. Happiness is a conscious decision. Not a decision made once, or even every day, but sometimes moment to moment. They just can't believe it could be as easy as just accepting what comes your way, instead of fighting against it. They are so married to this vision of the way the world should be (that exists only in their heads), that they can't come to terms with the world as it is. They just can't get themselves to say, "Is that so?", as Eckhart Tolle so enlightened us in his book A New Earth.

And, the way to make this conscious decision every day with every moment? To appreciate all things- good and bad, ugly and pretty, big and small... like good morning soap messages on your bathroom mirror. :)