The first part of this article clearly demonstrated that the tenacity of the habits we have acquired in our youth is likely to make more difficult the process of changing our unhealthy thoughts and ideas. Let's explore now the other two stumbling blocks on our way to happiness and emotional wellness.
Another source of difficulty lies in the way we often go about changing our thoughts and ideas.
Indeed, many of us try to accomplish this with mere sporadic and scattered efforts. What really happens here is that even if we repeat to ourselves a few times a day new healthy thoughts and ideas, we still continue—at least, much of the time—to speak the original "language of rubbish" that we have already learned so well.
It is usually best for us to take a systematic approach and pursue our learning day after day, without tiring and requiring we obtain fabulous results with just a few efforts. A certain proverb says, "Time does not respect what we do without it," and I personally believe it applies very well here. Let's face it: We cannot change old habits in just a few hours of scattered efforts—especially in an environment that does, on the contrary, encourage us to anchor these same old habits even more.
Also, let's not be surprised if we have to repeat our efforts often and long and suffer occasional failures for months and months. It's just that our training—which may be appropriate for minor hassles of everyday life—could very well be insufficient when it comes to major difficulties.
Everyone admires these expert skiers breathtakingly hurtling down the slopes, always falling on their skis, where less skilled skiers, beginners, and novices, miserably crash. But how many hours, weeks, and months of patient and sustained training are there behind these sparkling performances?
We must also acknowledge that a state of fatigue or illness can diminish our ability to think clearly and lucidly. In these particular moments, it is almost as if we were regressing to earlier periods of our lives and that the never completely forgotten "language of rubbish" was rising to the surface. Let's remind ourselves then that it may only be a simple setback before which it would be a pity to discourage ourselves.
Finally, let us remember this: Just as the battle against dust and dirt will never be won, so will it be with our unhealthy thoughts and ideas. But as our unpleasant emotions are caused by the unhealthy thoughts and ideas we choose to hold about the various events, people, and things in our lives, our patient and sustained efforts in changing them are definitely worth it. As a matter of fact, our happiness and emotional wellness mainly depend on these efforts!
Happiness: What Needs to Change So That We Feel Better, Get Better, and Stay Better?
We do not feel good because all is well in our world. All is well in our world because we feel good. The way to change things in our lives is to first change ourselves. That’s what the mystics and the most prominent teachers keep repeating over and over again since the beginning of time.
Unconditional Acceptance: A Roadmap for Happiness
No matter how difficult we find it to implement the practice of unconditional acceptance in our lives, the word "difficult" doesn't mean "impossible." Each and everyone of us can get to put unconditional acceptance in practice on a daily basis and reap the benefits of a much happier and peaceful life.
What Is the Number One Cause to Unhappiness and Misery?
Many of us blame loneliness, or oppression, or war, or hatred, or violence, and so on. We are mistaken. There is only one cause to unhappiness and misery: The irrational thoughts and false beliefs that inhabit our minds.
