December 23 2024: What Makes You Happy?
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe
Listen to this daily meditation on audio:
What makes you happy?
Figure that one out, and you are guaranteed to be happier in the coming new year. For some of us happiness just seems to be a part of who we are, while some others may struggle to attain the happiness they seek. The reasons for the differences are probably complex and the multifaceted. Yet there are some common factors in the lives of those who achieve a state of happiness for sustained periods of their lives. Let's make note of a just a few. A sense of personal accomplishment can give us some temporary happiness. We certainly experience a sense of happiness when the surprise birthday party for us. Without a doubt, landing a new, more substantial job will surely make us happy, at least until the realities of that new position settle in and begin to test our mettle. It seems that in many if not all pleasant outcomes in life, the happiness derived is fairly temporary. Once we move on to our next life experience, the happiness from past occurrences, passes into the hungry throat of time and becomes just a happy blip on the kaleidoscope of our lives. Is happiness tied to events that happen to us, through us or for us? Or, is our happiness tied more to how we look at life rather than what life imposes on us? I have been privileged to know a number of individuals who manage to be happy in spite of being buffeted in the same way, the rest of us are tossed around and challenged by life. What is their secret? Well, I don't think it's a secret. Some people just seem to have figured out that life beats up on everybody without any attempt to be fair. So they've decided that since life isn't picking on them personally, they are going to do like the old Timex Watch commercials boasted; they're going to "Take a lickin and keep on tickin."they refuse to let circumstances dictate whether or not they are happy. For them, happiness is a state of mind, not a state of circumstances. Want a happier 2025? Decide to be happy, no matter what life throws at you! Happiness truly is a state of mind. So make up your mind to be a happier person in the coming year. Just do it!
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