“Happiness is a choice”
It’s one of those statements people throw around pretty freely. I am one of those people. I absolutely believe that happiness is a choice. There’s a catch however. This isn’t a light switch you flip on and TADA! Happy! There’s much to it that we tend to not mention. Like anything else in our lives it takes action. It starts with the decision. We have to honestly, truly decide to be happy. This isn’t the “I wish I was happy” coin toss into a fountain. It’s the decision and commitment that you will put forth the effort to make your life better. This is the first step and it might have to be taken every day.
I have experienced some extreme moments in my life which led me to some dark and low places. I had given up more than once, but there was something in myself that believed there was happiness out there. It turns out it was in me to decide that I wanted, and more importantly deserved (this is a big one), to be happy. It’s taken me a long time, but I’m at the most content and happy that I’ve ever been. I work at it every day. Practically, it’s a result of the things we may read about every day such as daily meditation, daily diet choices, exercise, sleep, how I treat people, how I help people, how I react to people treating me with less respect than I would treat them, making art, making time for friends and spoiling the people I love with time. These are the ingredients in my personal recipe and it’s likely different for others.
I think the moment you say the words out loud “I choose to be happy” can be very powerful if you believe it, act like it, and begin to take action. You can start with the physical with things like meditation which doesn’t have to be dogmatic or even anything spiritual. The science is in. We can reduce our stress by just sitting and breathing for 5–10 minutes a day. For me, this is the foundation for the rest of it.
Diet is another big one which is like a perpetual energy machine. Once you start making tiny healthy choices (I replaced sugar in my coffee with cinnamon), you start to feel a bit better which make you want to make more smaller healthy choices (salad instead of fries) and you feel even better and you want to exercise even a little (10 minute YouTube morning stretch) and you feel even better and you want to exercise a little more (some light weights or maybe some yoga). Some of your friends may judge your changing habits, but that’s ok because what they is up to them and how you react to it is up to you so you stick with it with a smile. Now you are feeling great and you’ve learned more along the way so you experiment with even healthier foods and exercise and before you know it you’re a healthy human, you’re helping others and in treating yourself well you realize that you DESERVE to be happy and enjoy life. The tiny daily decisions have snowballed into a happy, healthy life. This is not only a gift for yourself, it’s a gift for everyone you interact with.
Choose to be happy, but put in the work. You’re worth it!
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This post was originally published on Medium.
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The post Happiness Is A Simple, Not Easy Choice appeared first on The Good Men Project.