Have you ever smiled at a baby and had them smile back at you? Have you ever seen them giggle and coo for no apparent reason?
What about that little girl with the rubber boots on jumping in that mud puddle? Happiness IS!
Babies and kids are naturally happy and often even full of glee. As life progresses and we teach them structure and rules and such, they too start to lose the spontaneous acts of being happy… just being happy for no reason!
As we get older it seems we forget that we don’t need a reason to be happy, we can just choose it. We are so used to stimulating ourselves from the outside through the use of media, videos, food, conversations, causes, etc. and we forget that happiness is an inside job. We can just be happy. We can choose to be happy regardless of all of the ‘stuff’ going on outside of ourselves.
There are no conditions that we need to be happy – we choose it.
I have heard many times in my life of people who have visited 3rd world countries and they have taken pictures of people with these huge smiles on their face and they have stated something like “I can’t believe how happy the people are here. They have so little but they are so happy.”
Now, I know this isn’t always the case but it is absolutely true in many cases. So happiness really is a choice.
After my cancer diagnosis in March of this year, I too made a choice. After I processed everything, learned about my disease or whatever you want to call it, and got over my initial shock and fear, I CHOSE HAPPY! It was like dammit, none of us knows how long we have on earth … me included and I don’t want to waste any of my precious time not having happiness and JOY if I can!
So I thought I would share this today and I hope that you too CHOOSE HAPPY! – ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ! – ๐๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐ธ ๐ป๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ดโฃ – ๐ฒ๐ท๐พ๐พ๐ ๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ !
Choosing thoughts has been something I have been teaching and practicing for many years. And now at this point in my life (my cancer journey), it has come into play even more so for me. If I don’t CHOOSE happy thoughts, I suffer A LOT! And I don’t like suffering!
One of my favorite books of all time and one that I refer to a lot is Bronnie Ware’s “The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying”.
There are 5 top regrets people have at the end of their life in general and the number 5 regret she learned from people dying is “I wish I had chosen to be happy”!Wow! I think that is my favorite of the 5. You can read more about all five here:
Now, I am not going to tell you that this is easy to do, but I can promise you that the more you do it, the easier it gets. This is probably why I am finding it quite easy in a situation that many people would find it very challenging in and rightly so! I have been ‘practicing’ this for awhile so it is easier for me because of that, but one can start at any time which is the good news!
NOW is all we have..
Choosing Happy means we let go of as much stuff as we can in our mental mind. An old memory? Tell yourself that it is the past and no longer exists but only in your mind and let it go. You need space for HAPPINESS NOW!NOWis all we have. Don’t let the old crap take up space and take away from now. Remember life is short….
Someone says something to you that you feel is hurtful or offensive? CHOOSE not to personalize it and let it go as fast as you can and move on. The faster we can do this, the more content we are. The longer we hang on to it and dwell on it, the more it grows and the more pain we feel.
Get Inspired to CHOOSE HAPPY!
I hope that you get inspired to ‘choose happy’ today and as much as you can. I know that for me, it is GAME ON! I want to squeeze as much JOY as I can out of my time left here on earth… and I hope that you do too!
“Find something that makes you happy and go for it”.
I think sometimes we overcomplicate life. We just do.
Take today for instance. How about we just find one thing that makes us happy for right now… for today… and we just do it!
Whatever it is just do it.
Maybe it’s making a piece of toast with your favorite jam, just because, or saying “NO” to a request from someone. It can be anything.
For me, it was writing this blog post because it makes me so happy to write. I also took time out to take a picture of the icy rocks today here on the Big Lake aka Lake Superior. The weather turned cold today and there is an interesting misty thing going on and it made me happy to take a picture of it!
Ice forming on rocks on Lake Superior December 14, 2020
There is no right or wrong here folks, but if you can, just go RIGHT NOW and do something that makes you happy and DO NOT complicate it. EnJOY! ๐
Maggie, no matter the temptation, you no longer think or say, “I’m anxious,” “I’m hurt,” or “I’m angry.” Because each of these feelings are choices, that can be unchosen, instead of reinforced. And you will be amazed, The Universe This was my beautiful note from the Universe the other morning and I quite loved it.โฆ
Good morning everyone! I wanted to share with you how I felt when I read these words from Byron Katie. But before I do, just to share some good news, I figured out another technological hack and here is the audio link from SoundCloud which is exactly the same verbal content as this written blogโฆ
Yesterday I was both humbled and honored to be interviewed by Louise and I think that our interview turned out fabulous. I really hope that you enJOY listening to it as much as we did making it! I think that there is a lot of insight into life in general in this interview, so theโฆ
I love little girls in the morning, especially when they are bright-eyed and bushy tailed and excited about life! It’s just such a magical energy don’t you think? ๐ Sisters My sister Stephanie loves this Margaret Mead quote below and said she thinks of my sister Barb and I when she sees it. How nice.โฆ
Miraculous Moments Just yesterday I was emailing with someone who I believe, is helping me greatly with my miracle-making and miraculous strides in healing my body to pure, complete, and whole health. We were talking about how MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! I firmly believe that miracles happen all the time! Do you know why and whatโฆ
What I’m Feeling & Thinking This Morning Today’s blog post will be largely in audio format. In this 4 minute audio I share some thoughts on how I feel today on March 6th of 2022, and how that transpired from March 6th of 2021, when I made that life changing trip to the emergency departmentโฆ
“Love lives here and lots of it”. With picture of two love birds and a heart.“My home warms my heart and nourishes my soul…..”“My home is a conduit for Happiness, Laughter & JOY”
I hope that you enJOYed these affirmations for your home and feel free to come up with your own. Affirmations are amazingly powerful. EnJOY!
Picture of a girl holding pink tulips behind her back and the quote: “Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower.” John Harrigan
Why Happiness?
The question is why not happiness? ๐
Happiness is our birthright and is really an underlying desire of most people.
For example when we desire things for other people like our children, we are really wanting them to just be happy……like wanting them to graduate from a good school, or to land a great job, underneath it all, what we really, really want is for them to be happy.
We want this for ourselves too. When we can show our children that we are happy, we teach them that happiness is natural. Many people today feel that happiness is some far away and unreachable place, and that is unfortunate.
โThere is no way to happiness.ย Happinessย is theย way.โ
Thich Nhat Hanh
I highly recommend putting happiness on your daily check list. What are some things that you can do to increase your happiness so that you are happier and you infuse the natural art of happiness into those around your too?
Some ideas:
. laugh at yourself
. laugh at life
. watch funny movies
. have a conversation with an upbeat friend who likes to joke and laugh
. make happiness a goal
. seek happiness (what you seek seeks you)
. show kindness toward others.. this always infuses happiness within us
. spend time with young children
. do art
. go skinny dipping
. walk in nature
. gaze at the stars
The list is endless. Do whatever helps to make you happy and happier. Do the things that bring you JOY!
Quote by Booth Tarkington “Cherish all of your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.”
Life is a series of moments. It truly is the moments that will matter at the end of our lives. The moments when we loved others and were loved by others, the moments that bring smiles to our faces, the moments when our mouths are delighting in โฅ JOY โฅ from eating a delicious meal, the moments watching your child sleep, the moments when you read or see something that makes your heart lift… all of those moments matter.
Remember to make the moments matter and count the moments that matter.