A New Design for Living

A New Design for Living

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit. - Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

I embrace a new design for living

The world is opening up to me in a whole new way. Thank God I learned to reach out and ask for help. Thank God I came to understand that I cannot, nor need not, do it all alone. Thank God I became humble enough to let something in. My best thinking got me this far. But whatever got me here, I am grateful because recovery brings grace. I can, with the support of others traveling this path, learn new ways of being. I can surrender, let go and let God, and live life a day at a time. Life, lived like this, takes on whole new meaning and purpose for me, simplified, distilled, and manageable. It is enough. It is emotionally sober. Today I feel blessed and even thrilled to be learning a new design for living. A new design for living that certainly beats the old one.