Psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman, known as the father of Positive Psychology, tells the story of being with his daughter one day when she turned to him and told him he was grouchy. He had never considered that label for himself, but reluctantly admitted that at that moment, she was right.
Isn’t it easy to be grouchy these days? Even with all the knowledge we have on self-awareness, it’s tough out there. We have too much on our plates; we get a major disappointment, we have an unexpected setback, or maybe the fries at McDonald’s are just too greasy or the Amazon delivery is late. Lots of things are available to make us react. It all comes down to the choices we make in how we handle all these frustrations.
I often think about Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Frankl’s amazing book, Man’s Search for Meaning. In it he describes the horror of being in a concentration camp, and the fact that in the worst of circumstances he still had more freedom than the guards; he got to choose how he was going to think.
No question we all have lots going on in our lives, with ample opportunities to be justifiably grouchy. And we also have limitless opportunities to take a second, acknowledge something has really annoyed us, (probably for good reason) and then decide to choose not to react, to let it go. We can opt to go on with our day, appreciate all we’ve got and focus on what’s important. Choices are completely in our control. The flip side, we can allow annoyances to rule our lives. The small choices we make on a daily basis become our future and our destiny.
