Too often I hear people wish that something in their life was different. They speak about certain circumstances impacting upon their life and the level of happiness (or rather, unhappiness) they experience as a result. It’s almost as if happiness is out of reach because they’ve been placed on this Earth as one of the unlucky ones. Fortunately, luck has nothing to do with it.
A happy person is not necessarily a lucky person, nor one who lives and breathes amongst a certain set of circumstances. Rather, it is a person with a positive mindset and a healthy attitude. We need very little in life to be happy. Happiness is developed intrinsically; it is all within yourself and in your thoughts and cognitions. That’s right; happiness is not something you stumble across or that you can wish for. Happiness is something that only you yourself can create.
People can be unhappy for any number of reasons – poor health, bad relationship, job dissatisfaction, lack of social networks – my list could continue indefinitely. What a lot of unhappy people don’t realise is that they are the ones who behold the power to change their lives and the level of happiness they experience.
It is very common for unhappy people, or people who are unhappy with a certain sector in their lives, to do nothing about the place they find themselves. They remain in their unhappy place. Why? It’s much easier to do nothing and be unhappy than it is to step out of their comfort zone and do just one little thing differently that would promote greater happiness. It may also be that sometimes they opt to remain unhappy through a fear of change or a fear of the unknown. Instead, they need to embrace change and what ‘could be’ because what’s even scarier is the notion that they will otherwise have to surrender to being unhappy for the rest of their lives.
To be happy you first have to think happy. You need to be able to acknowledge the elements or people in your life that are making you unhappy and identify what needs to be done to improve your level of happiness and satisfaction with these things. For example, if you’re unhappy because you always feel tired; start learning about what may energise you. If you’re unhappy because you’re twenty kilograms heavier that you’d like to be; brainstorm ways to help you lose the excess weight. If you’re unhappy because you’re working solely for the money and not for the enjoyment factor; seek other job options.
You have the option to stop being unhappy and to start being happy. Blaming others and other things for the misery or discontentedness you experience in life places the responsibility onto external factors and you automatically lose the power to take control of your own happiness. Remember, happiness is not somewhere you arrive at out of luck. It is a manner of travelling, a set of attitudes, and the self-contained power to make life all that you want it to be.
Are you happy with everything in life? If not, seek your ultimate happiness.
Email corinne@fitfixnz.co.nz
