The Happiness Habit
D Arlando Fortune, M.S.
Self-Publishing Strategist | I help coaches & consultants grow their biz using Signature Books?? and automation.
"The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely free, from the domination of outward conditions." - Robert Louis Stevenson
One habit that I want you to develop is the habit of happiness. It's a decision that you make every day. You wake up and decide: I'm going to be happy.
When your plans fail, you decide: I'm going to be happy.
When people try to discourage you, you decide: I'm going to be happy.
When life denies you, you decide: I'm going to be happy.
It's a decision you make. And, you make it again. And, again. And, again. Until it becomes a part of who you are.
The decision is to choose "love, optimism, courage, a sense of freedom, proactivity (forging your own happiness, not waiting for it to happen to you), security, health, spirituality, altruism, perspective, humor, and purpose" according to Dr. Dan Baker in What Happy People Know.
You decide to:
- Accept you for you and keep working on yourself -- your strengths.
- Speak positively to yourself -- your self-talk.
- Make the right decisions for the right reasons -- your personal power.
- Believe and use the greatest power of man -- to love.
Are there people living with success in areas that you want, sure. But, if you want those areas of success AND happiness to boot, then you have to do what happy people do. They have made happiness a daily habit.
So, these petty daily grievances and occurrences don't stop you from getting it. Getting your dreams. Getting your blessings. Getting to the next level.
I knew a person in the south with little care for much else in their life but to be with their family. Not a lot of finances but enough. Not a lot of the trappings of success but accomplished.
He'd wake every day and decide to be happy. An early morning walk through the woods. A cup of coffee with rice, eggs, and biscuits with syrup for breakfast. He'd smile as the grandkids rush to and fro preparing for school. When they returned home from school, he'd be back in the field walking his land or on the front porch rocking in his chair.
Happy to be happy.
He was a 70 year old two-time cancer surviving retired war vet turned church deacon that got married in his 70's and lived on a farm hauling timber til his body wouldn't allow him to anymore because... it made him happy to love, be productive, and be around family.
Now, you can wait until you reach your Golden Years to decide that life is better lived in happiness or you can continue letting life kick your butt and you take it with bitterness. The happiness habit, I promise you, will serve you better, give you a longer life, and, dammit, it just feels better.
Your task today: any time you feel yourself slipping into a mood or something starts going wrong today, then take a breath and choose to be happy in that moment.
It's amazing what a few seconds of happiness that you choose to have can do for you in your day. Go for it today. It won't solve your issue but it will help you to solve it more constructively.
Until then...