I’ve recently been rereading a book that I discovered almost exactly ten years ago. That’s crazy to think about, actually.
I had just gone back to school and was just discovering the beautiful world of Barnes and Noble (For those of you that know me well, know this is where you’ll always find me and it started way back in 2008.) On a table in the store, I saw a book called, “Way of the Peaceful Warrior.” It’s been my favorite book since I’d picked it up a decade ago.
In the book, the word “unreasonable” is used pretty often. Ultimately the young hero of the story, Dan, discovers that becoming an unreasonably happy person is a paramount piece in walking as a peaceful warrior. Being happy in this messed up world has to be an unreasonable affair.
Losing people to suicide, starving children on the brink of death, faithless spouses, unexpected deaths, broken hearts and disillusioned realities… Among all of this, what is there, really, to be happy about?
In this fallen, broken, and shattered world of pain, to be happy you must in fact do it in an unreasonable way. I love the definition of unreasonable — not guided by or based on good sense. Being happy in such a sad world does not make particularly good sense. But this is the world we live in. This is the world we were born into.
Now that I’ve painted a picture of just how F’d our planet really is, you have no excuse when you look around at life and wonder why you’re not happy or don’t “feel good.” You have no reason to!
So, that leaves us with this — We must become unreasonably happy in a world that gives us every reason not to be. We must become unreasonable in our actions, our attitudes, and, of course, our CHOICE to be happy.
Find yourself in fits of unreasonable laughter.
I need to develop a real sense of humor in the face of all the mess happening around me. Just lose myself in laughter. It’s not that serious. What if it’s death you ask? That’s just another experience of life, one a bit more radical than puberty.
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