Happiness is not Expecting anything from Anyone

What do you think about when you hear the word Happiness. Do you think about your children, your bank account, your marriage, friends, adventures? What if I say these are a key of happiness, but they are not the source? Would you believe me, or would you look at me like I've lost my mind?

A long time ago, I used to believe that other people made me happy, therefor I had expectations, and when they weren't met, I would feel heart break, anger and the famous question that we have all asked at some point, Why cant they make me happy? The truth is, the only person that can make you happy is you. That simple. If you are happy with yourself, then you really don't expect it to come from an outside source, that way nothing can take your happiness away.

I learned this after a period where I started to meditate, because everyday life started getting to me. I work with stress, I like stress to a certain point, but at that time of my life, I felt it making me bitter, I noticed a change in me. Instead of smiling at strangers, and not caring if they smiled back, I became the opposite. I would wait until someone smiled, and then I would smile. And if someone stared me down, I would do the same, and so on. I realized that wasn't who I was. I wasn't the one to care if someone smiled back, I wasn't the one to get worked up if someone gave me a dirty look, I wasn't the one with that negative energy.

So I stopped myself. I began to search deeper. On what really mattered, and my answers were so simple, yet so important. What really mattered to me was that I was alive, that I was healthy, that even though I didn't have all I wanted, I had what I needed. Then I told myself, I will let that be my happiness. That I was alive. Because as long as you have life, then you have the power to make it the best life possible.

I stopped expecting others to make me happy. For example, I love my husband, but I have no expectations of him to make me happy, because the happiness I feel with him comes from within me. My kids are my all. But I know that my happiness of having them in my life comes straight from my soul, and nothing they ever do can take that away from me, because they are like a tattoo in my soul.

I realized once I stopped expecting happiness from others, and my surroundings, my life became less heavy, it became more at ease. It was a beautiful realization, It took time, but everyday I would learn something new. I would smile at strangers, and even to those with no smile, and I started to realize how most of them would smile back, and something to simple as a smile made my day. So go ahead, smile at a stranger, and charge your life with positive vibes all around you.