“Don’t worry. Be happy.” It’s a cute song and I remember it being popular for a while. Bobby McFerrin’s advice sounds simple, but I wonder how many of us thought it could really work. And yet, if we look at it from another angle, do worrying and unhappiness somehow better a bad situation?
I was listening to the audio version of “The Hiding Place” and Corrie was expressing her concern that her ailing Tante (aunt) Bep should spend her last days living in their home where she was so clearly unhappy. Corrie wished she might be with the family where she was previously employed – one she spoke highly of.
Corrie’s mother explained that Tante Bep didn’t speak so highly of that place when she was actually living there. It was only after she left that she changed her assessment. It seems she was unhappy in whatever her current residence was, and only after leaving a place could she see any good in it. Moving her to another place wouldn’t make her any happier.
“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings. It’s something we make inside ourselves”, said her mother.