The Happier You Get, The More There is To Be Happy About

I can still hear my friend April’s voice over the telephone line, “Silver, you sound happier than I’ve ever heard you.”  As I reflected on this later, I realized that, not only am I happy, I am also attracting some pretty amazing circumstances that provide even more excuses to be happy.

Now that might sound silly. Who needs an excuse to be happy?  As it turns out, nearly everyone over the age of ten. The idea that we need to search for a reason to be happy creates many problems.

Somewhere along the line, many of us developed a belief that happiness needs to be earned. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth; happiness is our natural birthright. If you don’t agree, just watch small children. They are born 100% committed to their own happiness (until we train it out of them). If, for example, you punish a small child for some infraction of the rules, he will be unhappy for about 10 minutes. Then he will do everything in his power to find a focal point that brings him back to his natural state of happiness.

(In contrast, if you punish an adult, it will remain a bitter memory that he takes to his grave, even 40-50 years later!)

How did we develop this belief that contentment comes from something external?  From those who seek to control us or get us to do what they want. Over the centuries, they have delivered this message in many different formats.

I imagine that the very first chieftain, while invoking the newly created rules for his tribe convinced his people that the reward for following the rules would be happiness of some sort.

Religions soon followed and began teaching that happiness is not to be achieved in this lifetime. Rather, happiness would be our reward in the next life for the suffering we do in this one. (A brilliant ploy since no one yet has come back to sue for false advertising!)

Speaking of advertising—advertisers’ promises have always been clear: buy this product and you will be happier.  And so we buy and buy and buy.  And yes, for a few brief and shining moments, the products make us feel good as promised. But have you noticed that the glow wears off pretty quickly?

Now, do I think following the rules, being religious or buying nice things is bad? Absolutely not! I have engaged in all three and always will.  What IS troublesome is when we believe that something outside of ourselves has the power to make us happy or unhappy when both of those emotional states result from decisions we make.

Why is the decision to be happy or not so critical?  Because the Law of Attraction is at play and dictates that you get more of what you focus on.  When you decide to be happy your focus is naturally drawn to circumstances, people, places and things that are agreeable. The more you focus on what pleases you, the more you attract other things that are equally pleasant.

In other words, the happier you get, the more there is to be happy about!

The problem with looking for something outside yourself to make you happy is that, when it goes away, so does your happiness. And there will always be things in our lives that don’t match what we had envisioned.  Ironically, that’s because we get what we want and then we want more. This is a natural part of being human. What’s unnatural is using any of it to dictate how we feel.

Are you able, no matter the circumstances, to decide to be happy?  Or content? Or satisfied? Or joyous?  If the answer is, “No,” you might ask the follow-up question, “Why would you deprive yourself of this? What have you done that you think you need to be punished for?”

Yesterday I saw my friend Steve who has a chronic leg condition that causes him tremendous pain. In moments of repose you can tell. But mostly what you see is his big grin indicating that overall, he is enjoying the hell out of life!  Why not join him?

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