Choose To Be Happy Rather Than Right

Wouldn’t it be great if this was a choice that worked in every situation? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone practiced life with the Happy vs. Right attitude?

So often it seems that right is the only option. Society tells us if we are going to succeed in this world we better be right. If we are going to get out of this life what we deserve, we better be right. We even go so far as to thing that if we are going to be happy in this life, we better be right. What happens if we are not right or loose and argument? We must be wrong.

What does it mean to be wrong? For many the first thing that pops up is that they are not good enough. For others being wrong means failure, loss or weakness. There are many more negative associations we can make with being wrong. When we look beyond this level of negativity we can narrow in on the feeling of not being whole. We feel broken as if something is wrong with us that must be fixed. Until we fix it, we are never going to be right, thus never happy.

Reverse the role for a moment and assume that you are right most of the time or at least strive to be so. Wouldn’t that be great? Would that not mean that you are fixed, whole; you have it all together? Not if you care about the people around you. In order to be right, someone must be wrong. How in tune with your authenticity/essence are you if you need to make someone wrong in order to be right. Once you prove yourself right, the pressure is on to stay right; any slacking off could lead to the dreaded world of wrong. When the short-lived joy of being right subsides you realize something is not well in the relationship. This relationship can be personal or professional and will still feel the damage of the right/wrong dynamics. How long will the relationship survive, on a productive basis, full of trust and cooperation, if the right/wrong dynamic stays in play?

Choosing to be happy rather than right is an internal vs. exte
al decision. To choose right over happy means you are looking out into the world to decide what is best for you. You are relying on the people around you to define if you are good enough. You rely on the world’s definition of “right” to be your guide. You depend on outside sources to prove to yourself that you are okay. Here is the bad news; society is fickle, what may be right today can easily be wrong tomorrow. How would you feel in a relationship where the other person is always right, or striving to be that way?

To choose happy you must look inside yourself. Your decision is based on the internal strength of your authenticity, your essence. While your decision may not be the choice of the outer world, you can feel at peace. At the end of the day the relationships that matter most have been empowered instead of weakened. Being at peace internally with your actions and decisions can never be taken away from you by any outside source. No matter what may be right or wrong today, you can believe in your choices.

Choosing to be happy rather than right does not mean every decision requires us to be in party mode. It means make decisions in a way that you can walk away from the situation knowing that you have expanded a relationship and found a result that works for both parties. You can be happy and peaceful about the outcome.

To make decisions in this way requires a clearer view of the big picture. Take into consideration how this one decision will affect your relationship with others involved in the situation. Pay attention to how people sitting on the sidelines are likely to interpret the situation. How will they feel about being in a business or personal relationship with you? Does your intention equal your impact? Your actions speak volumes about your character.

Occasionally you will find yourself in a situation that you and other people are at an impasse. You have looked inside and made decisions based on your authentic self but you still have not come to agreement. It is time to agree to be on different sides of an issue. This does not assign right or wrong, it does not mean you failed. It simply means that two people had two different opinions and at this time the two opinions are not at the same place. Period. No right or wrong, no good or bad, just different from each other. When you can experience true acceptance of another’s opinion/view point, you will find true happiness and not be shackled to an “I’m Right” based result.