Choose happiness
You will have observed that some people are nearly always happy. They look happy all the time. They smile all the time. They are jovial most of the time. They even spread their happiness to others. They may not be rich, they may not have too much success and they may not be powerful but they are happy. What makes them happy? Choice. They chose to be happy. Everyone can choose happiness over sadness.
We all get frustrations in life. We all fail from time to time. We all get sick, get hurt, disappointed and even wronged. But surely, we can move on from those moments to be generally a happy people. It is basically a matter of choice. Choosing between being happy and being sad.
When we choose to be sad, what do we really benefit or achieve? Yes, we can argue that sometimes it is difficult to avoid sadness. True! However, there needs to be a time frame limiting the sadness. Sadness of yesterday should not affect us today.
The disappointment of the morning should not inflict the afternoon. Some people even get so sad simply because their friend is sad. Instead of helping the friend come out of the sadness, we simply get absorbed into the sadness as well! Let us rise and help the sad person to gain some happiness rather than amplifying their sadness!
Have you observed that in general, when we are sad, we fail to concentrate? Sadness affects our work or for students, sadness affects school work. Sadness degrades performance.
When we are sad, we even affect the performance of those around us or those connected to us. This is because sadness is by default passive. When sadness is active, it is disruptive. Sadness produces negative energy.
On the contrary, when we choose happiness, we give ourselves good energy – positive energy that propels us to do more positive work. The results of our positive work in turn creates more happiness for us and others. And so, happiness breeds more happiness. In fact, happiness can be quite—we spread it to those around us: family, friends and other associates.
We can make the world a much better place to live in by simply choosing happiness over sadness and then spreading that attitude to others around us.
It is important to discover things that trigger happiness for you. This varies from person to person. You need this because everyone goes through some moods from time to time. And moods are one of the triggers of sadness.
Once you understand your triggers for happiness and the catalysts for your happiness, then when you are moody or sad, you will simply resort to those triggers of happiness so that you counter the negative moods and so that you move out of the sadness into happiness. Is it dance that makes you instantly happy? Is it watching a movie? Or is it singing? May be it is telling a good story or listening to a good story. Perhaps when you call your mother or best friend is the time when you ‘reboot’! Whatever it is that puts you back in the right mood, the correct gear, just do it so that you can be happy most if the time.
People who are always happy are liked by many. People who are sad are not easy to like. What is your choice? To be liked by many or few? The choice is clear here. If you choose to be happy then many people will choose to like you. If many people like you, you will maximise your goodwill and your life will be easier.
We have seen that there are many benefits associated with happy people. We have also seen the disadvantages of living a generally sad life. It is clear from our discussion today, that you can choose to be generally a happy person rather than a sad person. Resolve to be a happy person to enjoy a range of benefits that we see happy people enjoy! Good luck! n
