This view makes me feel happy.

Pick your battles

You write that “Many people in Europe are doing a lot to help but at the same time it seems our continent wants to close our eyes from the opportunities to do more, from the people knocking on our doors and drowning on our shores. Perhaps you can’t reach your hand to each drowning person. But at least you can choose not to look away.”

I get your notion, but I don’t think it is that simple. We live in a very connected world. Information is everywhere and there are no other filters than the ones we set ourselves. Every day I hear about the climate crisis, how Trump is pulling out of the Paris deal, how Bolsonaro is planning to cut down huge parts of the Amazon rainforest. I hear about the war in Syria, about people starving in Yemen. I hear about the refugee crisis these, and other conflicts are causing in the world. I hear about how Sweden still doesn’t have a government — almost three months after the elections. I hear about marginalization and depression in my own country, Finland. Suicide statistics. Wildfires. Fur farming. The list just goes on and on.

We shouldn’t look away from any of it.

As inhabitants of this planet we have a shared responsibility for the planet and all the life on it. For all the suffering and all the joy.

Despite that, I hate guilt tripping. Nobody can do something about everything that is wrong in the world. But everybody can do something. I believe in doing good (side note, I’m atheist, I don’t need religion to have a moral compass). I believe that as long as I’m doing good things, as long as my contribution to this world is positive, nobody can guilt trip or moralize me over the fact that I’m not actively engaging in some specific cause that happens to be close to their heart. Choose your battles kind of. Just because someone is fighting a different battle than me, doesn’t mean they don’t care.

I also believe that all things are connected and all actions, positive or negative, have a ripple effect that carries further than we can imagine.

There is a fantastic example of that happening right now with Greta Thunberg for example.

On to another topic you wrote about.

Why do you think happiness is overrated? I think happiness can mean a lot of different things. I believe in continuous happiness. Though to me, that doesn’t mean constant excitement and excessive joy. It means my base level of being is happy. My happiness comes from gratitude for the good things I have in my life and from a belief and confidence in myself and my abilities. It also comes from actively looking for the positive and for the beauty in everyday life. It comes from stopping and taking all that in. A beautiful color, a cute dog, a kind act by a stranger towards another stranger, they all make me feel happy. Don’t you think that is something to strive for? Or do you think of happiness as those kicks we get from life every now and then, when we fall in love, get that job we really wanted, achieve something big for instance? Those I agree are fleeting moments. Amazing but not everlasting.

Right now, the rain stopped. That makes me happy because it means I can walk to my capoeira class in a couple of hours without getting super wet and cold. I’m simple like that, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.