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Happiness is Not a Destination, It's a State of Being

1/26/2016

2 Comments

 
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If you were asked what your greatest wish in life is, how would you respond? Most people would include being happy as one of their greatest wishes in life. When people are on their death bed what do you think is one of there top 5 biggest regrets in life? Yep, you guessed it...that they didn't allow themselves to be happy. There is a huge disconnect between what most people desire out of life and in the end how they feel about the outcome.

Why is this? Why do we desire to be happy and not allow ourselves to be happy? I believe that part of the reason for this discrepancy is due to society's view of happiness, society's model for happiness, and that we don't understand the tools we need to navigate our way through life’s challenges.

Society tends to view happiness as something to pursue, as something that is fleeting, that it's a destination, or as something that just occasionally happens to us. "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. ​This suggests that happiness is something to be chased, something to be pursued, that it's existence is not something that can be sustained.


Society's model for happiness typically goes like this...I'll be happy once I graduate from school and get a good job, I'll be happy once I have a better job, I'll be happy once I meet my soulmate, I'll be happy once I get married, I'll be happy once I can buy a house, I'll be happy once I have kids, I'll be happy when I get a better job, when I can retire and on and on and on. Sound familiar? The current model for happiness causes us to always chase happiness, meanwhile happiness is always falling off the edge of the horizon.

Society's current model for happiness is backwards. Happiness comes first and research has proven that success will follow.


In the past scientists focused their studies on disease and mental health concerns. They studied depression and people who were depressed. They studied stress and anxiety and people who were stressed and anxious. They studied cancer and other illnesses and people who had cancer and disease. It wasn't until recent years that scientists began to shift this model and to study what made people well, about positivity, and happiness.

This shift has developed a wealth of new information on how to bring more positivity, health and happiness into our lives, as well as the benefits to our lives. The results of this information are astounding! Small changes in our mindset and in our habits are capable of creating huge shifts in our happiness and within short periods of time. Having a positive mind, versus a negative or even neutral mind, creates amazing benefits to our ability to be healthy, to be successful, to our productivity, and to our creativity.  


Happiness is a state of being, not a destination. Happiness is a work ethic. Living in a positive emotional place is a choice. Sure there are going to be challenges along the way, but it's a choice whether to get stuck in those challenges. What do you choose? Do you have the tools to help navigate yourself through the challenges without getting stuck?

I invite you to join me for our Happy Hump Day Lunch Talks every Wednesday where we will share tools for navigating your way to a happier life. Or join me for our next Happiness Workshop where we are excited to share with you, in depth, all of our life changing information, along with the personal experiences of having applied it in our own lives. This information is not only important for you, but these are awesome tools for us to teach our children, so they are equipped with a toolbox full of life navigating techniques :)
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2 Comments
Brittany
1/27/2016 06:49:02 am

This is a great reminder on this gloomy mid-January day. Thanks for empowering me to choose happiness, not chase it!

Reply
Tracy
1/27/2016 07:06:48 am

Thank you for your comment Brittany! Have a joyful day!!! I love and appreciate you :)

Reply



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