Happiness...

I sit here laying out the short and long term goals that I have for myself, as I do occasionally; and as always one of the things on my list is always "find happiness"... or something to that effect... but really, can happiness be found, or gained, or discovered? Isn't it just something that we either are or we aren't? Isn't happiness a choice?
I think so!

Am I happy? This is a question I learned to ask myself many years ago, when I was indeed NOT happy. There are very few things in life we can control, but our own happiness is one of them. Whether we choose to believe it or not, our happiness is 100% within our control. Now, to me, this doesn't mean that we are going to be happy all the time, just that we can control whether or not we are going to allow a situation to make us happy or not.

If you are in a situation in which you are not happy, change it. The short term consequences may vary and may not be exactly what you want, but if your choice is to be happy, then you need to change the situation you are currently in to allow yourself the potential to one day be happy and enjoy life. After all, we are only given one chance to live each day, shouldn't we live it the best way possible?

I think, all in all, I am pretty happy, there are situations from day to day that I deal with that aren't "ideal", but they work themselves out in the end, and inevitably I choose to be happy in the long run. In all that I do, and all decisions that I make, I question, is this going to make me happy? Why deal with even a few moments of unhappiness, life is too short, and there are so many other things that have the potential to make you happy. Now... don't misunderstand... that doesn't mean that I don't take risks, just that i analyze the situations I am placing myself in, and question the long term consequences.

I never understood how people can go through life completely unhappy, miserable even; That is until I started questioning my own happiness. How can I be happy if I'm not making myself happy. No one is going to do it for me, how can they? One has to be happy with oneself before we can be happy with anyone else. I hear it day in and day out, I just can't find someone to make me happy... it's not because there not looking, its because they aren't happy to begin with! Of course, there is likely someone out there who will WANT to make you happy, but it isn't possible unless your willing to be happy, and that is something that you have to do on your own.

I feel that often times people confuse happiness for other things. You don't have to be smiling to be happy, right? I mean, you don't have to be crying to be sad... You don't have to be screaming to be angry, these are all emotional reactions to our feelings. If you want someone else to make you "happy"... it probably isn't going to happen... Now, if you want someone to make you smile, make you laugh, make you giggle, make you excited.... and those things MAKE you happy, then you have better chances. But, you have to already be in a happy state to have those emotions or emotional reactions.

Well, i could be completely off base, or just thinking uninhibitedly, but those are my thoughts, just another one of my Random Rants... enjoy!