You’re so right, because happiness is a choice. Some have minimal consequences, such as whether to have our ice cream in a cup or cone, while other decisions can be life changing. My dad was alcoholic and my parents had an unhappy marriage. Being thankful on a daily basis is a conscious decision that one can take or not! Happiness is definitely a choice. But it can be accomplished, and not just short-term happiness, but also true, long-lasting happiness If you’re having a bad day, too, just being near someone like that can be uplifting (although for others it is annoying, but that usually just stems from jealousy). I don’t think that we necessarily can choose happiness. I worked at happiness. But take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Thank you for posting this up. Happy people are not held hostage by their circumstances and they do not seek happiness in people or possessions. Unfortunately, some people may stay stuck; becoming bitter, angry & depressed and repetitively continuing the vicious cycle that brought them their original unhappy state of mind. All rights reserved. Choosing not to be happy is almost like choosing to be miserable. My life had meaning and purpose and real rapture. choosing to be happy is the first step. - If you want to be healthier that's another choice for personal happiness. I make it a daily habit the “equanimity game” as Marcus Aureilius called it, that when I’m feeling down I try to change my attitude to a more positive one…happiness. My boyfriend always told me this and i never understood. It is for the courageous, the care takers, the ignorant, the selfless, the focused, the decisive and the vigorous. I shared your blog on my facebook and twitter. All I know is that happiness is not for the lousy souls. Chapter 1. Classmates, Friends, teachers, ladies and gentleman, lend me your ears. I believe in rainbows, sunshine and that happiness is a choice. “Each person has a choice; the choice to do as one may wish and as one wants remains with the individual. The more you practice it and the more you become self-aware at how you are feeling. that’s so right It was the best decision I ever made and I am happier today for doing so because it’s suffocating being in the same vicinity of such miserable people. When grief strikes, or when you just can’t seem to catch a break, sometimes you just want to sulk and stay upset, perpetuate the sadness. This means, stand up straight, walk quickly, and smile. Reading your post and some of the answers I can’t help but feel that lot of people have given a great deal of thought to .. being happy. Each year, the U.N. To me, that is the meaning of choosing happiness. - If you're in an unhappy relationship you can choose to change it and that could mean getting out. There are two steps when faced with a difficult situation. I am well known for the fact that I ALWAYS choose happiness. Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about. It’s a feeling that keeps people healthy and fit. How can you choose to be happy when someone has treated you so badly, when circumstances beyond your control are bombarding you with pain? But the most vital element to being happy is choice. Malcolm Gladwell Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce "Tipping Point" author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce — and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice It comes and goes. Everyone has to deal with ups and downs and we all choose our own behavior so it’s about choosing to be positive over negative! Happiness must and will always be rooted within your inner being. These demands force us to work harder and harder to cross a finish line that keeps moving . For whatever reason people (myself included) seem to focus and fixate on the bad and it makes things significantly more difficult for us. Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. We all want to be happy. We can’t help it. No matter how much improvement we are doing in our lives, learning to be happy is completely a separate thing. Isn't that what happiness is about? You’ve to be you first and then let go & Breathe. What if everything you do fails? I know someone who has gone though so much, yet that person still has a smile and is the most positive person i have known in my entire life. A smile will lead to more smiles around you, the relationships will deepen etc. Many people feel this way. If you’ve never considered happiness as a choice before today, there has never been a better time than right now to choose happiness. Implicitly –. Happiness is a fleeting emotion. example: if someone is cheating or not treating you right, don’t ignore it. Or to be more precise, it's about decision making. Hope you enjoyed today's best motivational speech. I'm not saying ignore the real problems we all face in life but, think about what works well for you -- know what satisfies you -- do what gives you ultimate pleasure and practice it. I was dedicated to learning. Wherever you go, wherever you are, there is always going to be some sort of negative force around you. Sure we might be happy if we win the lottery and have an abundance of money or are very successful at doing something or find someone who understands and loves us but if those elements are not there, we only have ourselves to count on and to create our own happiness. I love this sentence in your blog. Exactly…happiness is a choice, we may not be able to choose our emotions but we can chose how we react to them. 30, 2018 / Misc. But I dont want to choose to be happy without him when he says he’s coming back. That’s what I think of happiness. Your email address will not be published. We only need to decide to be happy. Taking the time to nurture your being on a consistent basis will keep your happiness tank full. * And one more - "My happiest time was in college. – In absolute measures it doesn’t matter if you perceive the glass as half full or half empty. There are a lot of ways you can live a very happy life.Problems will come and you will have to face them with Being accountable for everything that happens in my life made a tremendous difference in my happiness! I agree Happiness is a conscious choice, a personal choice to either be happy or miserable and it isn’t the responsibility of another to make a person feel “happy.” (there are exceptions of course) I also believe that whatever trials and tribulations a person crosses on their life journey could mold a person to become stronger because life isn’t a walk in the park. A person in their lifetime will face some obstacles, one time or another and will need to adjust or change accordingly. The whole village was tired of him, he was always gloomy, constantly complained and always was in a bad mood. There is a common phrase on happiness; “happiness is a choice” which is very true because people choose if they want to be happy or not. Finally, happiness is not something that is obtained by accident. feelings are important to growth as a person, all of them are. You make the choice to give that negative force power over you, and your attitude. Everyone does not have the option of that choice and it’s incredibly naïve to assume that. It is better to be surrounded by happy people to be happy. Step 1: Mental decide to be happy. Take control of your emotions and start focusing on the good things in your life and the person you want to become. It's really, really great. This is a fantastic article. Because of this simple truth, in order to change your life, you just have to change your thinking habits. You make a very good point about choosing to be happy. No matter where a person comes from or how successful or rich, having happiness in life is priceless and the most cherish able thing that a person can have. just dont let a certain “one” feeling run your life, thats stupid too…. Happiness is a choice essays"If you want to be happy, be" says Kozma Prutkov's famous proverb. Part of HuffPost News. Appreciation. Sustainable Development Solutions Network releases the World Happiness Report. As a generalization, it's pretty safe to say that freedom of choice and a sense of autonomy have a powerful positive effect on happiness. Happiness is very simple to feel and difficult to describe. Most of the time I hated being at home so I found ways to counter my suffering. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Happiness – as with everything in our lives – come down to choice. Thank you for this post, love it =), Love this post. Happiness indeed is a choice. My ability to make decisions, my choices to do specific things, made me feel good, glad, grateful, jubilant, optimistic, hopeful, inspired. Even though, the word sounds too simple; but it is actually difficult to achieve now-a-days. Today's motivational speech was by Steve Harvy and Sparsh Shah. Choose happiness. Happiness is We all want happiness, but we seldom know the actual route to attain true happiness. However, the consequence (resulting course of action) will be the polar opposite. We can choose it moment by moment. It was one heck of a day. Why not make happiness a daily ritual? I tried to reach out to help them but my happiness & success made them lash out in jealousy. By choosing to be happy, thing DO go your way…most of the time anyway :). Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. So well written. Love it, thank you =) x. Happiness makes so many things more possible in life and career. But the most important choice is to be happy and always look for ways to make others around us happy too. Happiness is linked to thankfulness. Many people tend to associate happiness with things, seeing it as an outside force, where as the truth is that it comes from the inside, we cannot obtain happiness from anywhere but within ourselves. But I was laughing about the whole thing by the next day. There's always a way. We're always making choices and doing things to be happy - choosing what to eat, what clothes to wear, who to love, where to work. Your choice. We have all had difficult pasts (to varying degrees) and we all have challenges to face in our daily lives. You can’t be happy without being these. Thank you for this! He was one of the most unfortunate people in the world. Your email address will not be published. But I agree when you say that it’s a choice more than anything else. The easier it becomes to feel happiness automatically. You literally took the thoughts right out my head! I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, things are going to go so wrong you cry. But one day, I had a very, very bad day. :). However, not many people have that mindset. It’s More Important to Be Happy Than to Be Rich "Happiness, not gold or prestige, is the ultimate currency.” —Tal Ben-Shahar You don’t want to … - … 2. Behind this is a soothing, sublime feeling that tells me whatever I’m doing is the right thing. Great post Mariana! I say this all the time but usually have a hard time explaining to people what I mean. I choose to be happy about missing him instead… and maybe that doesnt make sense, and maybe i should give up. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. We create our own happiness. Contrast this lifestyle with a life that’s rich in purpose and in making a difference in others’ lives. Love this quote, “We always have the choice to be happy. 1. But I know that we can choose to try to do something about our own happiness. dont focus on being unhappy, thats just stupid. Very true. * A coaching client recently told me, "... getting my masters in sociology made me so happy because I was committed to achieving it and caring for people and that's what I most want to do with my life...care for people." Great post. We're always making choices and doing things to be happy - choosing what to eat, what clothes to wear, who to love, where to work. Yes! I swear to God, happiness is … Even while I felt stuck and sad at times I always liked setting goals and making plans to get away from negativity, to improve my life and to make my own happiness. In the life of each person there are some crucial moments when the whole fu i agree with parts of this article, but i think if people ignored “feelings” and walked around all the time like everything is great (ignoring their feelings), i think they will explode at some point. Some days are good, but there are probably more days that are just mediocre or plain bad, and it’s on those days that the true nature of happiness is revealed. For me; happiness is family and friends. The ability to conclude and correctly archive miseries, so that the subconscious mind doesn’t overwrite positive intentions. It allows us to think more clearly. Sample speech. But I choose to be happy in other ways. Happiness is a Choice, So Choose It! And choosing to be happy will make you a better, stronger, wiser, more longsuffering person. Not that there are not situations and I am all happy that they are, or how would I know that the state of that happiness is incomparable.?! Sometimes, you’re going to get angry. I believe happiness is a choice -- that you have the ability to create real and lasting happiness for yourself. we need to do some effort in order to be happy Many people believe that you're either born happy or you're not. Think of a smile, for example. There are some people who seem to think that happiness is the result of all the right wheels turning at just the right time. Closest aspect to happiness might be a mindset toward lifestyle. Certainly genetics, your personality and nature, plays an important part in your happiness. I couldn’t seem to choose happiness that day. Moreover, happiness comes from within and no one can steal your happiness. It’s true tho that happiness is a choice. Happiness is something which we can’t describe in words it can only be felt from someone’s expression of a smile. Have you ever met someone who stayed positive, even when they’re having a bad day, and everything that can go wrong seems to be going wrong? My life is just so much better since I understood that! I thank you for writing this article and helping spread your positive message, it is really important that more people start speaking this truth! But you get up and get back on the horse anyway. This is true success and true happiness. People who are able to smile even through the worst of times have learned a very important lesson, the same lesson I stated above: Happiness doesn’t just happen. It’s not an easy choice all the time, and it very well may be the last thing you want to do sometimes. I see that it is a choice even in the midst of a horrible break up. We do not need education, money, status, or fame to be happy. And the coworkers who told me how they always depended on me to cheer up their day only made me feel worse. Happiness does take work. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. thus in the future you can be happy. As for myself I choose “happiness”….even in the midst of a painful divorce, I moved myself to California and decided to start living and be happy! Why were you so happy? of course this wouldnt make someone happy to be in this situation. Growing up was not a happy time for me. By Mariana Ashley. Of course, it’s nice to receive those gifts, and easy to be happy when you do, but happiness is about choosing to see the adventure in every moment, choosing to understand that there will always be a light after the dark, that there is always good in every situation and every person, no matter how grim things may seem. You’re walking down the street, find twenty dollars, get a compliment from a stranger, meet the perfect guy or girl (and don’t totally make a fool of yourself), go to your favorite store and get 50% off, etc., etc. You have the choice between being a lost traveller or an accidental tourist of life. ‘Happiness is a choice’ Such a true statement and a great post Mariana. The real trick is to CHOOSE how we want to react and feel now, every day. When we choose to be happy, things tend to work in our favor, and luck seems to be on our side; and even if things don’t happen the way you want them to, if you choose to be happy, you can accept situations for what they are and make the most of life, no matter the hand it deals you. As in all of life’s complexities I think that BALANCE is the key; one must choose to be happy but not be blind to the things that are making them unhappy. Likewise, happiness is a signal or identification of good and prosperous life. I’m standing here in front of you to express my deep sympathy and sorrow to those people who commits suicide, to those who doesn't value their life and to those who is lives in their past. 7 Ways to Make Good Choices We’re all confronted by countless choices each day. Happiness is a state of mind. That’s right, a choice. i do agree that you can choose happiness throughout your day, but how could someone maintain that happiness, because the smallest things can just ruin all that.Making the whole day feel worst then before ,Yeah you can wake up and say today am gonna be happy and every thing is gonna change, and then you trip ,you get a phone call you didn’t want ,or etc by then your whole day just seems to go down form there . The truth is, we place artificial demands on ourselves that undermine our happiness. Happiness is a choice that we tend not to choose. Required fields are marked *, Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Choose to be happy. I think positive attitude in life is the key to being happy. I think happiness is a choice. This doesn’t mean to ignore the problem. Also in my diary, all the happy moments I ever had in my life are spent with them. Your way. People … Step 2: Decide to be happy physically. Tony Robbins once said “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped." Happiness is not something you can turn on in the midst of heart ache, profound worry or fear but at least you have the knowledge, the facts and the life experience to know what makes you happy and then you can create it, work at it and have it in your life always. you get through it bad feelings and all, and change things so that your not in this position again. Looking back I clearly see that I chose to go after happiness and I had Remember - "Happiness is when what you think, what you say and John Staurt Mill says that, “The happiness of the individual is paramount.” There are many things that we can do that can cause Not just like say a few times in a row, but every single time over the course of a decade? Happiness is a personal decision that is influenced by choices made. That will always make you happy. Instead, this is a result of continuous and challenging work. I know a few people who fall in this category. It takes steady practice. I still have ups and downs, but the ups are higher and last longer while the downs are also higher than before and vanish quicker! This is because your mind believes whatever you say.However, it is not as simple as it seems. focus on changing things to be happier, but dont forget to feel the feelings that come along in life, and in this situation. What were you doing that made for such confidence, personal excitement, peace and pleasure? Happiness is a choice – as is everything in our lives! Learning to change our attitude is frustrating, but worth it in the end.”. It’s a natural response, but it isn’t a required behavior, it’s a choice. Thanks Mariana, for a great post. Some of our choices are good and others not but they're all based on our deep and impelling desire to be happy. Knowing your purpose, setting goals and intentions enables you to be blazingly free to live your life the way you want to. So, I believe that real success and happiness comes from doing what you want to do and loving what I believe what this article is really talking about (especially towards the end) is acceptance. Well said! Additionally, we need to be able to (emotionally) deal with periods of misfortune. This choice changes everything, our thought process, our lifestyle, our relationship with people, and ultimately our life. Happiness is the choice to appreciate the good things we have. I believe happiness is a choice -- that you have the ability to create real and lasting happiness for yourself. If a person sees no benefit to change, they will not change.” If a person sees no benefit to change, they will not change.” Happiness is not something really made, it comes from your action. When you know the facts of what makes you happy you can choose to do the same things you love, choose to use your gifts and talents to be fully expressed and entirely yourself. Harmony. `` think people should not live in the midst of a horrible break.! Every day not seek happiness in your life and career simple ; but it ’. Make good choices we ’ re going to be miserable but we seldom know actual... Happiness indeed is a habit, but so is happiness happiness becomes our default... Important message that everyone needs to understand job you can choose to try to do some effort in to... 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Wife there and built friendships that have lasted for many years. as happiness but. – as with everything in our lives – come down to choice unhappy relationship you choose!