Happy?

 Nuha Kahn writes of "toxic positivity" for The Walrus:

It’s an experience most people can relate to: forcing a smile, holding back tears, saying “I’m fine” when you’re far from it. In a survey by Science of People, over 75 percent of respondents said they had rejected or ignored their emotions in an attempt to be happy.

Trying to live through a glossy Instagram filter can shame us away from experiencing real emotions.

You can read the whole article HERE.

We've been taught to separate our emotions by category; happiness is "good," and almost every other emotion is "bad."  And that's a mistake.

I'd much rather be happy than sad, but there are times when sadness is the appropriate way to feel.  That's when you lean on your friends.

There's a line in the Bob Dylan song "Forever Young" that I keep coming back to:  "May you always do for others, and let others do for you."  Everybody wants to be in the first category, not the second; but paradoxically, sometimes letting others help you helps them.

(Pete Seeger did an amazing cover of that song, which you can listen to HERE.)