Are we reactive by instinct or choice?

Is life all about choices and following our inner urges is merely a reactive action we take? Life is full of highs and lows but our tunnel vision makes us see only the lows and then we make plans to feel the highs of life, to be happy again. The search for happiness never ends and will never end as it is within us; it’s just that we have put blinds in front of our eyes and heart.

Let us talk about choices – most of us who are still in search of happiness make a choice to be reactive. We run after the rat race without realizing or knowing, what we really enjoy doing. For a short while, we feel that we’ve got everything in life, money, friends but then there is always an empty feeling somewhere telling us we are still not doing what we really enjoy doing. And then our reactive action begins. We undergo pangs of depression, frustration and look for happiness again.

Sometimes, we give excuses of circumstances and responsibilities but the world will not come to an end if we won’t do certain things. This does not mean we shall shirk our duties but just think, how can we make others happy if we are not happy ourselves? The difficulties of life look like a mountain to us and we forget doing what makes us happy – whether it is simply playing with kids, helping underprivileged or sometimes even our job. When a huge mountain is in front of us, how can we even look beyond that to see the beautiful sunrise? We tend to distract ourselves so much from the simplicity of life that after years of struggling and learning, we again end up making reactive decisions and again search for what really makes us feel happy.

No doubt, it takes years to build a position in the society, to live a luxurious lifestyle, to earn lot of money. But have we ever thought about the compromises that we make with our true ‘self’? The hidden potentials keep remaining hidden and then we are apprehensive about breaking those inhibitions and coming out of our artificially created comfort zones. Moreover, even if we realize this and take better decisions, even before we start, we again doubt ourselves and start with diffidence. We block ourselves from taking risks because we stop believing in ourselves. The ones who have made a difference in their lives had just been proactive, did what made them feel happy and have fought with their inhibitions and taken risks. Happiness is within us, we just have to make proactive choices.