By Sharyn Cunneen
Has it ever occurred to you that happiness is a choice? It sounds so simple. Well, lucky for us, it is. If you think about it, you will see that it makes perfect sense. Emotions are created by our thoughts. So if we can create anger, fear, sadness, jealousy and boredom with our thoughts, it is completely rational to say that we can also create happiness. Thus, happiness is within our control and is generated from inside us, rather than from what happens externally. There will always be things that happen outside of our control, but how we think about and react to them is completely up to us.
Once the decision is made to be happy, we can practise it. Observing the contents of our mind is a powerful exercise to do. Are you accepting the emotions you’re feeling? Often, saying how you feel out loud can be a form of acceptance. This is making peace with your emotion. If you notice self-limiting beliefs, such as “I’m not good enough,” you can create affirmations to counteract this, e.g. “I am good enough” or “I can be good enough.” By choosing to be happy now, you become more conscious of who you are.
Happiness is at the core of every being on this planet. Learning to let go of whatever is preventing you from feeling happy is the key. The good news is that anybody can do this, no matter what situation you are in. Choose to be happy, practise and evolve in joy.
