“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”
– Jim Rohn
On a beautiful sunny morning, while walking to work, you meet someone who asked you for a small loan several months ago but hasn’t returned the money yet. He smiles at you, says a nice “good morning,” and keeps walking.
How would you react in this situation?
You might say to yourself:
“What is he thinking? Does he think that I have amnesia?”
“He might at least show some respect and say that he is doing his best to pay me back the loan.”
The encounter with him might ruin your day. You’ll probably keep thinking all day long about the friend and the loan you gave him while feeling angry and resentful.
Every day, we experience many similar incidents. Some are easy to deal with, some are a bit unpleasant, and others are annoying, disturbing, and sometimes unbearable.
You need to make a choice.
You need to make a choice and stand by it, to accept to be unhappy or to choose to feel happy.
- You can choose to dwell on an unhappy event all day long. You may also refuse to think about it and focus on other events that make you happy and bring a smile to your face.
- You might have experienced unpleasantness. You might have suffered from some humiliation, disrespect, or anger, but you do not have to let them influence your reactions and feelings. If you let them, you suffer.
- You might not be able to change people’s behavior, but you can control your reactions and responses. You can decide whether to let their behavior and their actions affect you.
If you let external events influence your moods, you will be at the mercy of these forces and influences. You will lose your inner poise and your happiness. You will allow your happiness to be determined by other people and external influences.
Choose Happiness, Contentment, and Joy as a Way of Life
Choose to be happy and strive, no matter how difficult, to reject, ignore, and refuse to associate with unhappy thoughts and feelings.
Choose to be happy, no matter what the situation is.
Choose happiness as a way of life. This would require some effort on your part. Sometimes, you might fall back into the habit of dwelling on unhappiness, but gradually, you will learn to be happy and content.
Choose to free yourself from outer influences. Prefer happiness to unhappiness. Your attitude makes you feel happy or unhappy.
Tell yourself daily: “I choose to be happy.”
What Is Happiness?
It is a feeling of exhilaration, satisfaction, and a lack of worries and anxieties.
You usually experience happiness when everything is okay, plans proceed as expected, and when you are loved or respected.
You experience happiness when you get what you want, do something you love, achieve a goal, or are in a beautiful place, such as at the beach at sunset.
If you could look inside yourself when you are happy, you would discover that at these moments, there are no worries, fears, or obsessing thoughts. This means that happiness and inner peace are interconnected.
Happiness, often, seems to be the result of positive events, but actually, it comes from the inside, triggered by external events. It usually appears to be fleeting and temporary, but it gradually becomes more permanent when you learn to choose and allow happiness into your life.
10 Tips to Help You Choose to Be Happy
Always choose happiness because you can. Here are a few tips to help:
1. Find the good and positive in every situation
This is not difficult. In every situation, there must be something good, happy, or amusing. Why not focus on it?
Your mind might drag you down to think about negativity and difficulties because that’s how it is accustomed to think. Don’t let it.
Strive to change how you look at things, focusing more on the bright side of life.
2. Focus on solutions
It is very easy to find problems and difficulties everywhere because they require nothing but a negative attitude. Instead of focusing on the problems, focus on solutions. When you focus on solutions, you find them.
3. Watch your thoughts
Whenever you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, change them to pleasant thoughts. Do this time and again.
Make it a sort of game: detect negative thoughts and then direct your attention away from them to positive matters and events that bring you joy and contentment.
4. Watch funny movies
Prefer to watch funny comedies that make you laugh, rather than thrillers and violent movies, especially before bedtime.
5. Reading
Find the time to read at least a few pages of an inspiring or motivational book or article each day.
6. Look at what you have already accomplished and focus on it
Often, we start the day to complete several goals or tasks, but we need help to complete them.
At the end of the day, you might feel frustrated and unhappy because you haven’t been able to do all of those things.
It is wiser to be more reasonable and use common sense instead of deciding without thinking. When you set more reasonable goals and tasks, you are less likely to be disappointed and unhappy.
Don’t let frustration and the inability to carry out everything you set out to do ruin your happiness. Focus on what you have already accomplished. This will awaken satisfaction and a sense of happiness.
7. Each day, do something good for yourself
It can be something minor, such as buying a book, baking a cake, going to the theater, visiting friends, or inviting friends to your house.
8. Seek the company of happy people
Happiness is contagious. If you are in the company of happy people, there is a great chance you will be infected by their happiness, provided you don’t focus on unhappiness while in their company.
9. Don’t take anything too personally
Do your best to stay detached when things do not progress as you want them to.
Don’t allow negative remarks or behavior to affect your mind and feelings. You might not succeed the first, second, or third time, but if you are persistent, you will eventually succeed.
Detachment will help you stay calm and control your moods and reactions.
10. Listen to relaxing, uplifting music
It is said that music is the language of the soul. Listen often to relaxing music or any music that uplifts your spirit.
Happiness is a choice. You can choose to bring happiness into your life.
No matter how you lived until now, you can increase the level of happiness in your life, start to feel good, and live a happier life.
Repeat the following words daily: “I choose to be happy.”
You might like reading inspiring Happiness Quotes.
Image source – DepositPhotos
