Happiness Is A Choice

The key to be happy in life is to think happy thoughts. It's such a simple statement and yet it may take years or decades to get it right. It's alright. Take your time if you want. Once you'll grasp the idea behind it, you'll be in a new world. As we often hear, the happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything. Ask yourself this question: Do you feel happy with how much you have as of today or do you constantly feel like you're missing something to truly feel happiness wherever you are. If your answer is the first one I stated, then you are definitely someone who knows how to make the best of what you get no matter the circumstances in your life. Otherwise, if your answer is the second one, you need to stop looking at what you can't get control of and learn to appreciate what you have. I think one can find happiness through life's experiences and with people who belong to his or her world.

Experiences are those that enrich us throughout life. There are different stages in life to go through. Each of them is filled with ups and downs and you go through a bunch of emotions like feeling nervous, excited, relaxed, sad and happy. All this helps you learn about your likes and dislikes. The adventures that bring pleasure to you are most likely going to be experiences you will want to re-live or move forward with the next ones. For those that don't go well, too bad for them. One of the best things in life is that there is so much you can try out and that list is endless. You just have to be willing to give your mind the peace and satisfaction by trying out what you want. As they say, if you don't try, you'll never know. I don't know if it's right for me to say but we all have desires, needs and wants. Sometimes, little efforts can make us achieve the experiences we dream of.

I'll bring in a personal small experience to explain what I am trying to say. There were and still are so many things I could have done at a younger age but sometimes due to the direction of my life and/or lack of motivation, I couldn't always take every opportunity that would knock on my door. As I grew up, a second chance was given to me. The decision was mine: take the opportunity or let it go. I think the last of my best experiences in 2013 was to take part in a group dance performance of one minute in front of 900 people of which I knew about less than 25 people. It was just a one minute challenge and yet it required a few hours of practice, motivation, enthusiasm and passion. I got very nervous on the actual day and was carrying the feeling of fear throughout the day. I managed to smile while I danced but it's only at the end of my performance that I could feel that tremendous happiness I was waiting for. That one minute dance turned into such a beautiful memory for me to cherish for the rest of my days.

As for the people who surround us, the good part is that we obviously love those who belong in our present. There's no doubt about it. One thing that is crucial to live a happy life is to understand that we'll only have people in our present that we can contribute to their happiness and deal with their pain and similarly they are the ones who can contribute to our happiness and support us in our hard times. Speaking of myself, my present is all about my mother, my siblings, a few of the elders from my mom's family, a few younger cousins, some good and sincere friends and my coworkers. These are the ones with whom I share my daily little joys and sadness and vice versa, they share theirs with me. We always try to make each other feel better because that's the way to a positive spirit.

Then there are people who are not part of our present but had once been part of our life. They happen to cross our paths once in a while and our perception towards them can totally make a difference in whether we want to stay happy and on good terms with them. From my observations, I've had some situations where I ended up being just a complete stranger for someone just because I was no longer part of their present as my priorities had changed along with the stage of life I was at. That's fine. I had to move on, so I did and instead of getting hated or hurt by someone, I have usually ended up accepting being a "nobody" for such people. However, there's always the possibility of happiness on the other hand if we decide to stay on good terms with our good old buddies.

I have another personal situation to bring here: when things are under control in my life, I truly love being part of people's lives whether they belong in my little world or not. There's always energy in me and I get excited for any occasion from small to big because being able to add any sort of happiness to someone's life always makes me happier. With all the daily and typical issues in my life, I take whichever opportunity I get to give happiness to whoever I can because that is the least of a positive spirit that I can spread. As I grew up, I realized that there is absolutely no guarantee as to how often I can be there to create happy memories with others, and the best thing I can do and that I have been doing since about more than a year with sincerity, is that I put in my whole heart wherever I am and with whoever I am. There's nothing more unpleasant than being surrounded by people who are not enthusiastic when there's a get together whether it's between two people or more. Happy memories are created between people by putting everyone's positive energy and passion all together. 

I know I cannot speak on behalf of everyone and that's why I am nowhere imposing you to live by my words but this is just my perspective on how I see people who are not part of my life on a daily basis. Sometimes our priorities in life can be so different from someone else because of the different stages of life we are at, but that shouldn't mean that we have to say goodbye to each other. I chose happiness and I put the minimum efforts I can to not make any of my well-wishers feel like outsiders in my life. However, I will admit that when I am in situations where I do take a few initiatives and someone has that attitude that he or she doesn't care or that they don't see my good intentions behind my initiatives, I respect myself enough to no longer make those initiatives and obviously stay away from his or her zone of happiness. As much as the other person has a right to be happy without me, I allow myself to be happy in my world as well.

Happiness is a choice. There's no one better than you to know what's best for you such as the wisdom certain experiences can bring to you and what type of memories you want to create with the people in your life. Be optimistic. When life gives you a second opportunity, take the time to understand that second chance, listen to your instinct and go after it. Build happy memories with people even if it's for five minutes of your time instead of looking for reasons to create issues with them. Let go of what you can't control. Be happy. Make that choice. As you'll recognize and appreciate what you have, you'll attract more happiness in life. Just start believing in happiness...