Happiness is a Choice

Why is this? I don’t know, but I have some possible hypotheses. First of all, some people truly have clinical depression and anxiety issues, if you or someone you know is in this situation, please stop reading and get professional medical help. 

I worked with a young woman once who kept trying new assignments.  She wanted to be “happy” and thought that if she kept trying to do different things that at some point, she would find the ONE that would finally cause her to be happy.  Guess what, she never did.  And yet, she could not synthesize exactly what caused her lack of happiness.  Years later she left her job and went to be a mom full-time, hoping again that that choice would make her happy.  I hope it did!!!  Many do in fact find joy in the innocent joys of children.  

Think of someone you know who always seems to be happy.  If you asked them why they are happy, what would they say?  What do you observe about them?

I am guessing that first of all, the happy people you know are “glass half full” people….people who will first mention the positive before the negative.  You know, the people who on a 0 degree day will say, “it has warmed up since yesterday” rather than “I cannot believe we have another miserably cold day”

So, I propose that happiness is a choice.  It is a state of being, not a destination.  Happy people are happy because they choose to be.  They choose to stop doing things that they don’t like to do and start doing things that they want to do.  They see the goodness and value in others and ventures on which they embark.  Maybe their choice is unconscious, or maybe it is conscious…..does it really matter….it is by choice nonetheless. 

So, here is a favorite trite poem that I have kept close since my teenage years:

“If you want to be happy, begin where you are,

Don’t wait for some rapture that is future or far,

 Begin to be joyous, begin to be glad,

And soon you will forget that you were ever sad.”

Unknown

Barb R

1-24-08