What Is Happiness?

What is happiness and how can you be happy regularly?

Well, how I define happiness may not be how you define it and therefore it won’t apply to  you. You have got to define happiness for yourself. In other words, what does being happy mean to you? Take some time to think about that.

When are you the most joyous? What are you doing in those moments? Perhaps more important, what are you telling yourself? You see, that is the key. What you tell yourself determines how you feel. So if you’re telling yourself crappy things, that’s how you’ll feel. And vice versa. If you tell yourself great things, you’ll feel a lot happier.

There’s a great story on the internet that’s been floating around for years that illustrates this exactly. Basically the story goes that there are two people in a hospital room and one of the patients would get up every morning and look out the window and describe the beautiful scenery outside. The other patient would just sit and listen. He was unable to move and could not see what the man was describing. So, he just imagined how pretty everything was. This went on for some time until one day the man who would look out the window every day and share how gorgeous it was passed away. The patient that was unable to move asked if he could be moved to the window so he too could see the beautiful scenery outside that window.

When he was moved, to his astonishment, the scenery wasn’t beautiful at all. In fact, he really couldn’t see anything at all because outside the window was a giant wall to the building that blocked all other views. He was puzzled as to why the other man described such incredible scenes. When he asked the nurse about the other patient, she too was confused. She told him that he was completely blind and could not see anything.

When you read that story, what do you think? Why was a man who could not see able to be so happy? What did he tell himself every day? What was his outlook? What was his attitude?

More importantly, what is your attitude? What is your outlook? How can you look at things differently than they appear to be?

The bottom line is that once you understand what happiness is to you and what it’s not, you’ll be well on your way to being happier a lot more of the time.

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How To Be Happy In Life

Everybody wants to know how to be happy in life. Well, speaking directly to you, you already know how. Seriously, think about it. Are you really saying that you don’t know how to feel good? Are you really saying that being happy now is something you can’t figure out how to do? I seriously doubt that.

You can be happy anytime you want to be just by focusing on the things that you enjoy. As basic as that may sound, here’s the point.

I asked someone how he was doing today. His reply was, “I’m alive.” Obviously he wasn’t in the greatest of moods. So I replied, “Well, any day above ground is a good day.” He said, “No, not really. When I’m dead, everything will be great. I’ll have no bills, no worries and I’ll just be able to relax.” I said, “You’re obviously still here, so that means you want to be.” And the conversation ended with him saying, “God is punishing me.”

The man was totally miserable. Why? because of what his thoughts were. He was paying attention to all the negative stuff in his life and he played those tapes over and over and over again in his mind. After telling himself that negative stuff for so long, not only did he believe it, but he lived it. It took him over. Happiness was not even a possibility for him.

I feel sorry for him. He has shut down every avenue to his own joy and he’s stuck in the prison of discontent, or resignation, of cynicism. How sad.

But it doesn’t have to be that way for him or for you or for anyone else.

A 6 year old once taught me this. She said, if you want to be happy, choose to be happy. And that’s the point. You can always focus on things that make you feel good or feel bad. You can always focus on things that will move you ahead or take you backwards. I suggest you focus on all the great things in your life and when you do, you will be well on your way to being a lot happier all the time.

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Happiness Is In The Present Moment

Happiness is in the present moment. It’s right here, right now. I learned that lesson from Bella.

Every morning when Bella wakes up, she has the most wonderful smile in her eyes and her whole face is lit up. It makes me smile and instantly feel better. In fact, it has that affect on everyone around her. Bella is 4 years old.

So, how is it that she can be so happy, so much of the time? I believe it’s simple. She totally lives in the present. She’s not worried abut the past (last night when she didn’t get her way about something) and she’s not worried about what’s going to happen later. She’s just right there, in the moment.

What can you learn from that? Well, if you want to be happy now, be in the moment now. Happiness is a choice. And you have a choice about how you feel and what you think about and focus on.

Here is the other benefit. It takes much less effort to be happy now than it does to not be. You can put a ton of  effort fighting against what is vs. what you think it should be or you can accept it and move on. When you’re not worried about this and angry about that and you’re in action, moving forward with the things that matter to you, then life becomes a lot easier and you will be sure to find happiness right where it belongs… in your present.

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I Found Happiness At 5 O’clock And Other Lies

How many times have you said, “I’ll be happy when…” I’ll be happy when I stop working, when I win the lottery, when I go on vacation, when I get a different job, boss, partner, car, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, etc.

There’s one thing for sure. If you look for happiness outside of yourself, you’ll never find it. Sure, it may show up in spurts here and there, but like a drug, the affects wear off after a while. Or, you’ll need more and more experiences to get your happiness fix.

Now, I want you to know that no one and nothing outside of you has the power to make you happy. Even if you’re in the best relationship of your life, your boyfriend or girlfriend is not making you happy. You are making you happy by the things you’re telling yourself about you and your life. You pump yourself up. You tell yourself that life is great. You tell yourself that it can’t be any better and you pay attention to those thoughts. As a result, they just get stronger and stronger.

One last thing, procrastination doesn’t make you happier. On the contrary, it has the opposite effect. When you put things off, they build up. When they build up, the create stress and anxiety, not happiness. If you’re not happy in your current situation, then do something about it. If you’re not happy with who you are, then do something about it. If you’re not happy with your job, your partner, your spouse, do something about it. The very act of taking responsibility for your situation will start to make you happier.

If you want help ending your procrastination, I am giving away a free report that will help you to do just that. Just click on the link in this blog that says, “Special Free Report” and enter your name and email and it will automatically be emailed to you.

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How To Be Happy Anytime You Want

How to be happy anytime you want. Hmmmmm??? That sounds like a bold promise and not really possible. Well, here’s the thing. Happiness is your decision. You can decide at any time to be the way you were or the way you want to be now. Simply put, you’re in charge of your life and you’re in charge of your decisions. You’re in charge of how you feel and you’re in charge of your actions.

If that’s true, then no matter what is going on around you, it doesn’t matter.

If that’s not true, then whatever is going on around you has the power to affect you and you’re completely at its mercy.

When it’s put like that, it should make you think. It should make you realize how much power and control you have right now.

For some, the hard part about this is the fact that they are totally responsible. However, when you can’t blame anyone or anything for your happiness or unhappiness, it’s actually very empowering.

For me, I have many situations that I use this with and without a doubt, every time I do, I feel better, my outlook is better, my attitude instantly improves, I become more productive and I win.

What I believe is that my life is too precious to waste on negativity and anger and unhappiness and since I have the power of choice, I am in control, then I will make my life the best it can be.

If I can, then so can you.

If you need more support, please feel free to go to www.the24hourchampion.com or get my free report on this blog site on ending procrastination.

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How To Find Happiness In The Littlest Things

This is how I find happiness in the smallest things. I got to thinking about this. I have so much to be happy about. I am successfully self-employed. I have a wonderful family. I am healthy. I am living life on my own terms and much, much more.

But I am not writing this post to talk about the big things that are easy to be happy about. I’m writing this blog because there are so many little things to be happy about and if I can be happy about them, so can you. So no matter what’s happening in your life, there are always some small things that can bring a smile to your face and make you happier. Any of these that I’m listing, virtually anyone can do and do immediately.

Here are just a few.

I went outside earlier today and looked up at the beautiful blue sky here in New Mexico. I thought, “God that’s so beautiful.” Instantly, I felt great. I felt happier. I felt alive. I felt wonderful. Just the fact that I have eyes to see all of the beautiful colors makes me happy.

I have ears to hear the voices of my family, my friends, my sweetheart. When I hear their voices, I am happy. Not to mention, the birds, the cars, the wind and all the other noises of daily life.

I play music and I’m instantly lifted up. I’m energized and excited, motivated and inspired. I find songs that inspire me, move me, make me feel alive and I turn them up. When I do, I forget about the world.

I have tissues to blow my nose when it’s running. I have toilets and toilet paper when needed. I have hot and cold running water. I have soap. I have a warm shower.

The point is that there are so many things to be happy about if you just look for them. It’s surprising how many there are, actually.

I’ll leave you with a little poem I just wrote. I hope you it makes you happy.

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE US HAPPY

If you find yourself feeling down
Just open your eyes and look around
And very soon you will start to see
What will transform your mood instantly
Then listen for nature’s magical sound
You can escape it as it’s all around
Then turn on some music and let it play
Until you begin to smile and feel good today

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3 Strategies For Being Happy No Matter What’s Going On

Here are my top 3 strategies for being happy no matter what’s going on.

1. Give yourself a time limit to be upset. I know when I’m unhappy about something, I give myself a time limit to pout, bitch, moan, complain, etc. When that time is over, I let it go and I move on. Here’s the thing. At some point (whether I do anything or not), whatever is bothering me is going to go away. So, if it’s going to happen at some point, it might as well happen when I want it to and on my terms.

2. See the bright side of the situation . Whatever you focus on and put energy into will manifest. So, when I’ve got a lot of stuff happening in my life that seems to be going wrong, I look at it from another perspective. The other day my computer crashed and I had a ton of work to do. I really needed to get the work done and I was stuck. I had a lot to be upset about. Instead, I chose to focus on the fact that I could do some other things that really needed to be done that I had been putting off. And, I could actually finish earlier, be with my family and get some more rest. Overall, it was a good thing that the computer crashed and when I saw all the things I could do instead of what I couldn’t do, it made my situation easier and me happier.

3. Force yourself to smile. This one is a real special strategy. Smiling changes your state. It changes your body chemistry. No matter how bad you feel, you instantly start to feel better when you smile. It’s impossible not to. That’s why many people who are sick, start to watch really funny movies and they feel better and begin to heal themselves. I told my sweetheart that if I’m ever in a really bad mood and I’m complaining about something or I’m on a rant to just start laughing. As soon as she does that, I start to laugh, no matter how pissed off  I was. It really does work like magic. Try it, you’ll see.

These 3 strategies for being happy no matter what’s going on work every single time you use them. Put them into practice today and watch how much happier you’ll be.

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Happiness Is A Decision

Every single moment of every single day, I have choices. In other words, I have options to pick from. I can pick options that will add to my life or I can pick options that will take away from my life. I can move toward what I want or move away from it. I can be happy or not.

The point is that I can make my life whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want because I always have choices.

But I called this blog post, Happiness is a decision. You may be wondering why.

It’s simple. The difference is in the definition. A choice is an option. There are millions upon millions of options. When you pick one of those options, that is a decision. When you pick an option, you literally cut off the other options. You’re completely in charge of your decisions and at any moment you can pick a different option if you don’t like the way something in your life or business is going.

The first thing you’ll notice about the word decide is that it ends in the suffix, “cide”. So do other words like suicide, pesticide, homicide, genocide. Cide means to kill. So, when you deCIDE, you kill off the other options. That makes you in charge of your decisions.

So, if you want to be happy now or experience more happiness more of the time, simply make the decision, thereby cutting out all of the options to make you unhappy.

It’s really a great thing to experience. You really do have the choice and you really can make a decision. And you can keep making that decision over and over again. So, no matter what may be bothering you or what’s not going right in your life, you’re just one decision away from being happy.

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Love And Happiness

I just watched the movie, “The Notebook.” All I can say is, “WOW”. It was a tear jerker. The story was magnificently told and played. I was lost in their lives because their love felt so real. I felt like I was Noah and I felt like I was Ally at times. For anyone who has not seen it, I invite you to watch it.

Well, what’s all this got to do with happiness? Everything.

After the movie, I was so deeply moved that it dynamically shifted the perspective of my relationship. I looked at my sweetheart differently. I felt differently about her and about us. Now, it was great before, it just took it to a whole new level. I was even kinder, even gentler. I was totally in the present with her. I saw her differently.

I was happy just to caress her hand as we ran errands together. I was happy to do mundane tasks. In short,  I was happy just to be with her. It really was a wonderful day.

I do want to be clear about one thing. You can be happy in or out of love. The two are distinct. Yet so many people look for happiness outside of themselves (usually in the form of a romantic relationship). When people make their partners responsible for their happiness, that’s codependency and it’s destined to fail.

Happiness is a an inside job. You have to be happy with yourself and your life and then when you’re with a partner, he or she can add to that experience. Trust me, it’s a lot better that way. I’ll write more about this in a future blog.

So, start to love yourself, value yourself, honor yourself, cherish yourself as you would a partner. Take care of yourself as you would take care of your partner. You deserve to be treated with care and love and respect and that begins with you.

Love and happiness are a beautiful couple. So be happy and fall in love with yourself and see how that changes your life.

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Happiness Without Limits

“I love living life. I am happy.” So says Nick Vujicic. Nick is an absolutely amazing man. He was born without arms or legs. He lives his life without “limbits”. He never let his condition stop him from doing what he wants to do. I believe that it actually propels him.

He swims. He surfs. He plays golf. (Yes you read that right.) There’s virtually nothing he can’t do or isn’t willing to try. Here is a link to one of his videos on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxjiEi2Eywk&feature=related

After watching it, ask yourself how bad do you really have it? Say to yourself, “If Nick can do it, then so can I.” After watching his video, go out and do something with your life that you’ve previously made an excuse about doing. Start small, start big. It doesn’t matter, just start.

One of the reasons so many people aren’t happy is that they lose sight of who they are and of what they want. They get settled into a routine. Life becomes a series of monotonous events with no real direction.

Well, when you decide what you want to do with your life and you go for it and you don’t give up until you’ve accomplished it (despite your circumstances), I promise you, you’ll be a lot happier. You’ll be motivated. You’ll be inspired. You’ll be energized. You’ll be passionate and you’ll take on your life in a whole new way.

If Nick can do it, so can you.

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