Happiness is a Choice

Many of us get so caught up in the stress of day to day life that we become irritable and forget how to be happy. At one time or another, we’re all guilty of it, but that’s no excuse. We all have the ability to be happy, even in the face of adversity.

It’s Your Choice

We’re all born with the power of choice, but many of us take this gift for granted and let it’s potential go unrealized. Although we can’t always control our surroundings, we can certainly choose how we perceive them.

Regardless of how bad something may seem, it’s always possible to embrace it with a positive outlook. Whether it’s something as simple as getting stuck in traffic or as tragic as losing a friend or family member, we can choose to perceive it in a positive way. Making this choice can be the difference between being miserable and being happy.

The Perception of Limitation

By feeling sorry for yourself and fixating on the sadness of your circumstances, you’ll minimize your potential to live life the way you want to. Happiness is one of the greatest emotions we’re capable of experiencing and being able to perceive unfavorable circumstances in a positive way will make it much more obtainable.

In my article about aging gracefully, I wrote about the significance of having purpose in your life. Living with purpose and passion makes it easy to perceive life in a positive way and enjoy the happiness it brings. However, obsessing over your sorrows and limitations will only detract from your pursuits and will ultimately limit your ability to live a rewarding life.

Perception and Determination

To achieve happiness, we often need determination to get past our limitations. While this is often a necessary precursor to happiness, the effects of strong determination can be extremely satisfying. Determination is a also a choice and tends to originates from perception. As such, by giving up the choice to change negative perceptions, you’re choosing to strengthen your limitations and limit your happiness.

A Truly Inspiring Story

We all have the choice to be as happy as we’d like. Think about that for a minute. Most of us regard true happiness as an elusive quality that’s only obtainable by the world’s most fortunate people. Ironically, the people many of us consider to be most fortunate often have the most difficulty achieving happiness. The truly fortunate are those who understand and make use of their inherent ability to choose happiness.

I know all of this is easier said than done, but this is a poor excuse and it feeds your sense of limitation. If you think your situation is so bad that you can’t possibly have a positive outlook about it, here’s a video that will make you realize how wrong you are.

Afterthoughts

I’ve always been intrigued by our ability to change perception and the effect it has on our happiness. I came across this video of Nick Vujicic a few months ago and it brought my perspective to an entirely different level.

Nick makes it painfully obvious that we really do have control of our happiness regardless of the adversity in our lives. The message from this video has stuck with me and continues to change my perception of the trivial difficulties of life that we all tend to become so overwhelmed by. I hope you find it to be inspiring and useful as well!

To learn more about Nick and his story, visit his website at http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.

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