Ups and Downs

Up escalator. Down escalator. No, that’s not the name of a new Dr. Seuss book. It’s a pairing of two very handy mechanisms that are both quite necessary. True, we could survive without escalators, but we would still need to go up and down stairs…you can’t just keep going up.

In life, we need both ups and downs. If you plan to chase happiness means that you’ll try to avoid all downs, you are in for trouble.

Downs are inevitable. Things happen that just don’t go your way, and human beings are hard wired to react. When someone close to you passes away or just goes away, you are supposed to feel down. When someone hurts you. When a friend fails. When you fail. When traffic is particularly thick or your wallet is particularly thin. There are so many times when you will feel down.

Yes, even the happiest people feel down.

But a happy person does not stay down long. A happy person moves fairly soon from mourning a loss to celebrating a life. From feeling like a failure to grasping the lesson and renewing his determination. From feeling frustrated to just letting the universe unfold.

Up. Down. They are both fine - just depends on how long you stay down for...