Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?

Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?

Now this is a hard question to answer sometimes. In fact, my answer used to be, “But I was right! He/she/they were wrong! It has nothing to do with being happy!” How wrong I was. And by clinging to my self righteous pride and ego, I fought a lot of people and a lot of things to maintain my right to be right.

And I paid a steep price for my stubbornness. Living in opposition to a lot of people, places and institutions takes a lot of energy and it constantly creates a lot of resentments. And resentments will kill me. In order to stay alive, I have to learn to forget about who’s right or wrong, and instead to focus on my part. Mine is the only part I can control, and if my side of the street is clean, then I become open to the only real solution to any situation: forgiveness, surrender and acceptance.

Today I know that while I rarely have the opportunity to be right, I always have the choice to be happy. By looking at my actions and ignoring my intentions each day, I am able to correct my part. I get to forget about who is right, and I get to choose to be happy and free instead.

And today I’d rather be happy than right.