Happiness is a Choice

It took me years to figure out that happiness is a choice.  When I was a teenager, for some reason, everything was dramatic and anything bad that happened was devastating.  I carried that through most of my twenties.  Eventually, I learned to laugh at myself, something I can easily identify in people I meet.  At 50, I can truly say I've been through a lot!  … and now it's the happiest time of my life!

Being happy doesn't mean we won't have sad moments.  Sad things happen every day.  Happiness means that a brighter time is coming after the sadness subsides.  But, as the quote above indicates, happiness is not a result of what happens to us: It's the choice we make in everyday life and in every moment we live.

I think when I finally realized that happiness comes from within, people thought I was crazy to be happy at defining times in my life.  For instance, during my breast cancer recovery, we chose to make jokes about my flat chest to lighten our spirits.  I chose to appreciate the little things, like going to my children's school programs, flowers in the flower bed and a cool breeze.  I was happy to just be there experiencing all the things I would have taken for granted at an earlier time in my life.  

So why was everything so dramatic when I was young?  Perhaps I had a different idea about what life should be.  It wasn't perfect and I kept trying to make it perfect.  I was disappointed in people for letting me down, especially myself.  It wasn't until I just let things "be" that I realized that I needed to chose to be happy because it would never be delivered to me through any circumstances.

My husband has taught me the most about happiness, so that could explain the transformation happening around the time we started dating.  I'll never forget going to California with my children, visiting family, seeing all kinds of cool things, eating the best foods and experiencing some awesome events.  When I talked to him on the phone about his time with his kids at home, he explained it with such excitement I was actually jealous of his wonderful time even though it was just at home.  He made the local swimming pool sound like an oasis...and we went to the ocean!  He reveled his happiness in the simplest of moments and I could actually feel the happiness in his heart through the phone.

Now, when I sit atop our little mountain in the country, that same happiness fills me up.  He's dozing a pad for our house and I've planted some tomato and pepper plants.  Every time I'm out there, I'm in awe of every little thing!  The color of the dirt is amazing, the panoramic view is sensational, the plants are gorgeous and every rock is unique.  We could dwell on the amount of work it will take to build our life out there, but we chose to see all the wonder around us in the moment we are in.  We chose to be happy with and appreciate each other during this wonderful journey.

For more inspiration about choosing to be happy, you should try out the Peptalk App online.  There are some great ideas on how to get started in your very own happiness journey.  Listening to it everyday helps to keep my happiness perspective in place!  In my upcycled life, this was a wonderful place to start!