Ask a thousand people if they are happy and you will get the typical “yes” or “I think so” but really, are most people happy? How do you define happiness? Go on the web and put in “define happiness” and so many definitions pop up, this is the one I believed to fit closest to what I believe happiness means; “state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy”.
Well, here is my theory (I am no expert just a mom, wife, daughter, friend, niece, etc.) I am a happy person by nature, seriously, since I am a writer, cancer survivor, and I like to write about life experiences, most people think I am dark and sad. But I can tell you that I am positive 95% of the time. Yes, I do have my days too.
I guess it took me a long time to take the feedback that was given to me and internalize it and make the changes to be better. Do you do that? I am a mother but gave up “mom guilt” a long time ago because it is a useless emotion! We do the best we can, right? I will over analysis a situation and figure out how I could have handled it better, but I think as humans, we do the best we can! I guess it comes in the form of “don’t sweat the small stuff” which I know is hard but if you can keep it in prospective, it does help. Breathing through those stressful triggers (this does come with age too) but breathing helps too!
Sometimes changing your path, or that person that is “bringing you down” will help because you are “carrying their baggage” and it is not really yours to carry. Being around people that are positive and realistic is best (my humble opinion). We have all had those friends that just bring you down, they do not make you better – maybe it’s a time for a change. Think about it.
My twin sister, Shari told me so many times “your life is measured by giving” and she is right!! Give your time, money, listen, talk and give in any form you can. I believe this with my whole heart! I believe in forgiving yourself and asking God to help you. I think that humans are their own worst enemies and will hurt our own selves, sad but true. But it takes YOU to start looking internally and keeping an open mind to help you be YOU. Happiness does not come from others, just from YOU, you are the only one that can make YOU happy. Get my theme here? It starts and ends with you.
Happiness is an emotion that you control, you can be happy if you want to be. Do not think that having all the materialistic items makes you happy, it does not. Being a good person, giving to others, time, money, energy, whatever you can give, give for the right reasons. Happiness starts within and that is where you must look, so take a deep dive into your soul and figure it out.