Happiness is Your Choice

Tell some folk that happiness is your choice, and they may scoff at the idea, but it is true! While there are plenty of surprises and circumstances that can make people feel happiness, experiencing happiness is also a choice you can make for yourself. Being in charge of your own happiness is a powerful tool. In your quest to live an excellent life, it’s important to understand how you can control your happiness. Happiness is Your Choice What does being in charge of your own happiness look like? To understand what being in charge of your own happiness looks like, it’s important to understand that all people express and experience their emotions differently. For example, the way happiness feels to you may be different from the way your mother or best friend feels it. With that understanding, being in charge of your own happiness can present itself in a variety of ways! A person who is in charge of their happiness might…. Smile and laugh often Experience feelings of peace and contentment Be vocal about their needs Enforce their personal boundaries Make choices based on happiness ….and many more! However, the method that someone chooses to be in charge of their own happiness is the same. When a person is in charge of their happiness, they do not let other people determine how they’re feeling. Rather than requiring their happiness levels to be determined by other people, someone who chooses happiness seeks that feeling and chooses the happiness themselves. Being able to choose your own happiness is a powerful tool – it removes the power of being able to control your feelings from others and puts it in your own hands. How can you be in charge of your own happiness when bad things are happening? It’s important to remember that choosing happiness won’t guarantee that you’ll never experience tough emotions like anger, sadness, and depression ever again. Experiencing a wide range of emotions is a totally normal human experience. However, by choosing happiness, you can control how long those unpleasant emotions are going to last when you’re going through something difficult. When you decide to be happy, you’re giving yourself permission to let go of your difficult emotions and feelings in favor of peace, happiness, and calmness. What are some strategies for choosing happiness? Being in charge of your happiness takes some practice. To get started, try the following methods to take charge of your own happiness. Understand that the only aspect of your life that you can totally control is yourself. You have the ultimate power to control your actions, speech, and reactions to stimuli. For example, if someone is rude to you, you can’t control that person’s choices. However, you can control how you choose to react. In this situation, you can choose happiness by not feeding into their negativity further and responding to their behavior. Practice radical acceptance and forgiveness. Learning to accept life as it is and forgive people (and yourself) are powerful tools in choosing your own happiness. When you accept life as it is, you’re acknowledging your lack of control, which is a fact of life – as great as it would be to control everything, you can’t. Forgiving yourself and others is powerful, too. When you offer forgiveness, you are allowing a tough situation to end so everyone (especially yourself) can move forward. Make choices that honor your personal peace. When faced with a decision, choose the option that will provide you with inner peace. If you feel tempted to make a choice that will leave you hurt or rattled, avoid it. Learning to honor your personal boundaries by making honorable choices is a great way to choose your happiness.