Wisdom Moment: Our boys (1 & 3 years old) were able to spend some time with their Great Grands (82 & 86 years old) this week! As I sat there on the ground, legs stretched out into the grass with my back leaning against a cottonwood tree, I watched them all play as I reflected on how similar children are to the elderly.
All four of them were eager for something new, excited about small things, laughter was easily triggered, and whimsy was abundant. I sat there and thought, wow… they all Choose Happiness.
I started thinking about the rest of us out here stuck in the age between youth and retirement. Why are so many of us not choosing Happiness or choosing positive mental attitudes about life?
If we were all kids, or we all knew we had just a little bit of time left here, would there be more play and laughter in the world? Would we work harder to find and create joy? Would we have less stress if we chose Joy and Happiness?
I know it is not easy, but could we do better? As many of you know I am a Stress Coach, but honestly, happiness is actually the overall goal when I begin to work with someone. Stress and Happiness are directly correlated.
If I were to ask you to rate your Stress on a 10 scale, 1 being barely any stress at all and 10 being Stressed Out to the max what would you say? The answer you give, would allow me to easily know your happiness level on the same 10 scale (1 being least, 10 being most). If you rated your stress an 8, I would know you’re not experiencing much happiness at all, around a 2. Here is the great news.
You can work either side of the scale and directly affect the opposite side of the scale because Stress Plus Happiness Equals Ten. S+H=10. If you pushed your stress down from an 8 to a 4, then your happiness scale will climb proportionately up from a 2 to a 6. If you chose to address the happiness side instead of the stress side it still works well… say, you started at a 2 in happiness (8 in stress) and you worked hard to push your happiness up to a 7. It would slide your stress level down to a 3. Happiness, Joy, Whimsy, Giggly, Playful…. and many more positive mental states/attitudes are gifts within us that we can choose at any time.
As I sat there thinking underneath that cottonwood tree watching the young and old play together, it reminded me to keep addressing both sides of the scale. I will admit that I often get focused on managing only the stress side of the scale because I know it impacts happiness too, as shown in S+H=10. But…
This experience was a reminder to manage both sides of the scale and make the choice to be in a positive state of mind. To let myself be childlike and experience simple pleasures and be whimsical even with all the social pressures. To continue on by pushing happiness up, while still finding ways to remove discomforts that cause stress. Even in a world filled with stressors and pressures, I hope you will choose to bring back your inner child too. Let us not wait until we are old to bring it back. What if we don’t make it to old age?
“Stress is a game, all you have to do is learn how to play” -Andrew S Oakes