People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be according to Abraham Lincoln. What does that mean to you? For me, it means that we all live in a world where we create our own happiness. Our happiness and our sadness are mostly about how we choose to view things. It’s an inside job, a state of mind. We can have everything in the world and still be miserable, or we can have little and feel great joy. I would say that happiness is a choice we make every day.
If we focus more on what we have rather than what we don't have, we will be happy. Happiness is not something that we get from the outside, it comes from a place within. It’s a state of being that we can uncover within, connect to, and choose to “be” anytime. We only need to be grateful every single day for everything that we have and accept ourselves and the things that we don’t possess.
It sounds very idealistic, but we are not meant to feel happy all the time. Life is difficult. We suffer, we feel pain, we feel alone, we feel abandoned. We are human. This is the truth. I also believe that our greatest obstacle to the choice of happiness that lies within is basically our mind.
We think over a million thoughts a day with more than half being negative, and 85% of the negative thoughts we’ve had over and over for years because we couldn't just move on. We still tend to cling to our past.
And so many of the negative thoughts that we have are directed at us. We are constantly bombarded with thoughts that we’re not worthy, enough, or incapable, not beautiful enough, not sexy healthy, or fit enough. And to which standards do we base these judgments, self-criticism or negative self-talk? Are we happy comparing ourselves to others or believing whatever social media and the latest trends are projecting?
Comparison is a thief of joy. We should embrace our truest selves and learn to love ourselves for who and what we are. We shouldn't direct these harmful, false, negative thoughts non-stop to ourselves. If we want to be truly happy, we must first begin by being happy, proud, kind, loving, thoughtful, generous, and grateful for who we are as extraordinary human beings. The friendship we have with ourselves is the greatest foundation for everything we do in life. And most especially your faith in God🦋
When we love ourselves completely and become worthy travel companions for life’s journey, then we can see “something beautiful” in our lives when we’re feeling low and sad. When we truly believe deep within our hearts, that we are worthy of happiness, we will begin to see happiness. Be brave and have a little faith, We’ve got this.
