If we wanted to, we could find so many things “wrong” about the world that makes us feel unhappy. We could change the focus onto our country, city, friends, family, and ourselves and still find things that we believe Aren't As They Should Be. The things we feel we want to add or subtract from our lives and from the world are easy to find if we want to find them.
With so many things “wrong”, how can we make a happy world?
We can make one by being selfishly happy. When we take care of our happiness first, we are more grounded and better equipped to deal with things beyond us.
When we're not happy but we're trying to “fix” the world, it's like trying to save people from drowning but not knowing how to swim ourselves. We have to take care of our happiness first and only when we feel we have the capacity do we help.
When we look inside ourselves and find the things we're unhappy about, learning how to feel or make those things As They Should Be teaches us.
They teach us about ourselves, our beliefs, and why we feel and act the way we do. And as we learn more, that understanding expands out to our family and friends, then to our society and, finally, the world.
Being selfishly happy, we ground and center ourselves. We become a stabilizing force others can lean on and emulate. As those around us also learn to be selfishly happy, that stabilizing force grows and begins to influence our society and eventually the world.
Making a happy world won't be instantaneous, but most things built to last aren't. Most importantly, though, since we're taking care of our happiness first, we'll be happy while doing it.
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