Now, who is really in charge of your happiness?

Posted by Chantal Beaupre

The moment you will fully realize the incredible power you have over your thoughts and emotions, not only will you be literally astounded, but you will wonder why you took so long to use it and create sustainable and lasting happiness in your life!

Whatever the nature of our problems and difficulties, there is hope for us. No matter how much we feel unhappy, discouraged, and hopeless at the present time, happiness is still within reach. Feeling better, getting better, and staying better is an achievable goal for each and everyone of us.

What is important to understand is that happiness is purely internal. It is not something that happens to us, but rather something we ourselves do and determine.

You and I relate to everything and everyone on this planet through the mechanism of thought. It is not what is in the world that determines our happiness or unhappiness; it is how we choose to process what is in the world in our thoughts.

In other words, other people and things practically never upset us. On the contrary, we are the ones who can choose or not choose to make ourselves unhappy and miserable about the various adversities that people and things may put in our lives.

Even in regard to the most unfortunate conditions and circumstances - ones that we usually describe as tragic or catastrophic - and the most adverse environment, we can usually manage to feel better and happier by not needlessly adding to our misery self-defeating thoughts and ideas that will cause us to feel unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, anger, guilt, discouragement, unworthiness, or sadness.

No one can decide what our thoughts shall be but ourselves. So if we wait for happiness to catch up with us, just happen, or be brought to us by other people and things, we are likely to have a long wait.

Granted our unhappiness have biological aspects. Granted as well our brain and body chemistry may catapult us into a state of emotional disturbance when few or no adversities are occurring in our lives. Nonetheless, the unhappiness we experience about these emotional and physical handicaps are still largely our own doing - the result of our thinking.

What a blessing that we ourselves help to create and perpetuate unhappiness in our lives, for that means that we personally can stop it in its tracks and make ourselves feel better and happier.

Is it to say that we can be happy 100% all the time? Not in a million years! No one, other than a saint, can achieve that. But we most definitely can - if we make the decision and commit to do whatever it takes to honor that decision - think self-helping thoughts and be happy a large share of the time, regardless of that multitude of conditions and circumstances of daily living that provides us with opportunities to make ourselves miserable and unhappy.

Make no mistake about it, dear friend: You can achieve increased happiness in your life - that is, if you take your personal power and use it!

Simply take my word for it: The moment you will fully realize the incredible power you have over your thoughts and emotions, not only will you be literally astounded, but you will wonder why you took so long to use it and create sustainable and lasting happiness for yourself!