Just move on

For some reason I woke up feeling really happy today. I made breakfast, walked the dog, dropped the kids in school, breezed through traffic and arrived at the office at 8am.

The rising sun was peeking through the clouds and I told myself it's going to be a great day. And that will be today's tip on Happy Ideas - When you wake up, tell yourself you want to be happy today. And chances are, you will be.

The irony is, by 9am, I was already in tears. Only one person in this world is capable of driving me to tears that easily, and that is my ex. He called out of the blue, from another continent, asking about the kids. The conversation started civil enough but soon escalated into a shouting match. We both slammed the phone down in anger.

It's hard to imagine that even after so many years, we still can't conduct a decent conversation. All that can be forgiven and forgotten had already been done. Still, some bitterness lingers. That, combined with his temper and my defensiveness, can become a mixture potent enough to make one (him) explode or implode (me). Whatever it is, it just makes the day suck.

After the tears had been shed, I reminded myself that it's supposed to be my happy day. And then suddenly, I snapped out of it. Just like that!

It goes to show that the theory works. I could choose to wallow in self pity and misery all day. But I decided to focus on the other good things in my life, and the entire day takes a different turn.

I have learned over the years that we are the ones in control of our emotions. If I allow a bad incident to affect my mood all day, I'm the foolish one. The other person would have moved on and there I am, still nursing and licking the emotional wounds hours later.

So the earlier we move on, the better it is for us, isn't it?