Ernest Holmes said it. So did Christ. Word now travels through the American Medical Association via such messengers as doctors Bernie Seigel in “Love, Medicine, and Miracles” and Deepak Chopra in his exciting book, “Quantum Healing.” The message remains simple: consciousness precedes form; what you think and how you feel influence what happens to you.

Yet, the frantic struggle to maneuver circumstances into position so that we can, at last, enjoy our lives, persists. It gains momentum. As the “spiritual materialism” of the 1980’s yields to the “techniques for consciousness” of today, we remain reluctant to look within, beyond our limiting beliefs, for freedom, truth and happiness. We choose what Krishnamurti called “a revolution within the prison” instead. Why is inner freedom so often the last freedom we seek when it is the only freedom we really control? We defend our rights to be miserable and to blame our spouses, employers, politicians for our anger, frustration, guilt and sorrow… not to mention parents, fellow drivers and the I.R.S. The right to unhappiness is definitely inalienable.

We struggle to get the right job, the right car, the perfect image – or, on other levels, the right teacher or belief-system – even the right consciousness in order to deserve happiness. Then we refuse to be happy, as if misery were free, but happiness came with a price tag. We scoff at the notion of premature joy. Be happy before I lose weight? Who wants to get caught fat and happy? Feel good before I get a raise? Why would I want to be content, underpaid and taken advantage of like this? Lighten up before I find Mr./Ms. Right? Are you crazy? I’m single!

We act as if feeling good now would stand in the way of getting what we want, dooming us to lives of mediocrity. And yet, emotion plays a vital role in manifestation. If you examine your own life, you may find that you achieved your best results when you felt great, not when you were disgruntled.

For example, a young opera singer I know became so angry and resentful about waiting on tables to support her studies that she not only ruined her tips, she nearly crushed the life out of her dream. Her faith in anger dissolved when she realized that exuberance at work could not harm her; it would nourish, not diminish her desire to perform. She invested the extra money from better tips in more voice coaching and a better accompanist. Within the year, she debuted with the New York City Opera in Lincoln Center.

The miracle accessible to us all is that we can be happier now, even before we fix all of the things we believe are wrong with us and our world. The suggestion is not that we suppress our feelings or that there is one best way to feel, but that, no matter what challenges we face, we always have the right to choose our feelings and our own unique experience of life.

© Mandy Evans. Permission to reprint granted with author credit and link to this website.