Happiness Is A Choice

Happiness Is a Choice

I used to believe in luck, fate, and that life just happens to us. I felt as though I was a victim of circumstance. I thought that we are either born lucky or unlucky. I believed that some were born blessed or cursed. I thought I was one of those unlucky souls and perhaps cursed.

I now know better and believe much differently. I am enlightened and now see that happiness is a conscious choice and that it is what we believe that shapes our days and our lives. It is also a habit just like drinking or smoking.

Just like a smoker gets up in the morning and chooses to light a cigarette and smoke or a drinker decides to pour and take a drink we choose what kind of day we are going to have whether we know or believe it. We can choose to be happy.

I hit rock bottom in the Fall of 2011 and was beyond desperate for change. Since then I have been searching for answers. I tried reciting positive affirmations but it just was not enough. I helped but my life was still in need of change.

I have read many self-help books by various authors in search of a better life. I have also watched many episodes of super Soul Sunday, and documentaries trying to find what I was missing. The one thing that they all had in common was one simple concept about changing the way we think and look at things.

It just seemed way too simple and easy. It seemed way too out there for me. How could it be that easy and simple? I asked myself, “If it is that easy why isn’t everyone doing it?”

In January of 2016 I once again got very depressed and hit rock bottom. I could not live like I was any longer! I could no longer stand to be a people pleaser and just a passenger in life!

I read many more self-help books, continued to watch Super Soul Sunday, and YouTube videos, and listened to Louise Hay. I kept getting the same message about changing my thinking and making a conscious choice to be happy. I have studied the teachings of Louise Hay for over 7 years and I now know “Change Your Thinking and Change Your Life” to be so very true!

After hitting rock bottom more than once in my life I decided that I had nothing left to lose by changing my thinking. Could my life get any worse by thinking positive? No, it could not hurt anything. Then once I made a commitment to myself to be positive and not to give up no matter what I found out that it is not so easy to give up negative thinking. Changing my thinking was not so simple or easy after all.

When you hear others talk about it and read about this simple sounding concept it seems so easy but then when you try it you find out that is it not so easy especially during times of adversity. I felt like I imagine a Heroin Addict or Alcoholic may feel when trying to kick the habit.

In the beginning it felt overwhelming and perhaps even impossible. It was like climbing a mountain. There were times when I considered giving up but I was committed and reminded myself how dark my life was when I was a depressed victim of circumstance.

The more I tried the easier it got. Then it got even easier when I started seeing the light. The light was small positive changes like my health improving. Doors for opportunities started opening up. Even my finances gradually started to improve.

The small changes were much needed and very encouraging. I did have bad days but I chose to get up the next day and start over fresh and then I started seeing a difference in the days when I was the old negative and anxiety ridden self and the days I chose to be happy and positive.

Then I discovered that I could change the course of a day with how I chose to think and look at things. In addition to this, I discovered that happiness really is a choice!

An example of this is, one morning I got up for work and I felt a little stressed and exhausted but I chose to be determined and be the survivor I know myself to be. I got my cup of coffee and I did not put it in a travel mug like I typically do. I took it to my room to get dressed and I ended up knocking my coffee over and getting it everywhere!

The old me which was a poor, helpless, victim of circumstance would have allowed this frustrating and negative experience to set the tone for my day. Instead I chose to recall the teachings of Deepak Chopra and ask myself do I choose to be a prisoner of my past or a pioneer of my future? I then choose to be a Pioneer and just simply breathe and clean up the coffee.

Instead of being the Prisoner of my past and going on social media and spreading my negativity by whining and complaining about my spilled coffee and declaring my day ruined as a result, I chose to make another cup of coffee and move on. I decided instead of spreading negativity to spread happiness by posting on social media that I choose to make today a great day!

I then listened to some of my favorite songs on the way to work while singing along and dancing a little at red lights. I decided to be happy no matter what! I then noticed that instead of spilled coffee ruining my day that the more happy and positive I was the better my day got! Then I ended up having a fun and great day at work and a very pleasant evening at home!

I now know for sure that happiness is in fact a choice! It has nothing to do with fate or luck! It is nothing to do with our circumstances! It simply is a choice! We can choose to be a prisoner of our past or a pioneer of our future!

Every morning when I wake up I make a conscious choice to be happy. I am thankful for each and every day! I still have my moments where I catch myself slipping back into old habits but I just keep getting up and trying again. I just start over with each new day. I look at each day as a new opportunity to become better than the day before. I just keep choosing happiness! If you truly commit to changing your thinking you can and will change your life!