Choose to be Happy!

Want to know what prompted this message of "Choose to be Happy"?

...I was reading a post that appeared on my facebook wall...

I was reading a post that appeared on my facebook wall a short while ago. It was made by a young chap who I've known since the days he was a toddler.

These days he's all grown up and on the whole enjoying building his own life - a task on which I'm pretty sure he's well ahead of the pack.

I was a little surprised then to see his posting somewhat short and lacking detail. It simply said this:

"_____ _____ is a rather unhappy little bunny :("
(The blanks representing his facebook name).

Mmm... raises a bit of concern doesn't it? What causes the unhappiness?

There is one thing that I would have my young friend know:

Happiness is a state of being" - it resides inside a person as a choice

You can choose to be happy!

Many people think that happiness or unhappiness comes from outside circumstances. They think that it arises from

how much money they have, or
how their friends have spoken to them, or
whether their car is reliable, or
how well they did in their exams, or
a million other things.

Listen! Life is not so cruel as to leave our happiness to the mercies of the world outside our self.

In any situation we have some pretty powerful tools to help us:

we have memories of good times and times when our actions have produced successful outcomes
we have an imagination which allows us to play out different circumstances, different actions and possible courses of action we can take to change the world we experience
we have the power of choice. We can choose how we will 'feel' and how we will respond to any situation or circumstance.

These are the powerful things that have seen people through the the best of times and the worst of times.

Consider how Nelson Mandela felt when he was locked away in a South African prison for thirty years.
He went on to become President of South Africa
Consider how Winston Churchill felt when the United Kingdom stood alone against a German occupied Europe in 1940.
He went on to lead the country and the free world to victory against Nazi oppression
Consider how David Beckham felt when he was sent off in an England International against Argentina in 1998
He went on to become the England football team captain as well as one of the country's most capped players.
Consider how Royal Marine Nick Gibbons felt when he lost a leg in Afghanistan
At the time of writing this, he is in Nepal getting ready to climb Everest.

You see, it isn't what happens in the outside world which makes us happy or unhappy.

Things happen all the time. If our happiness depended on those things then we'd be up and down with our emotions like a yo-yo!

No! It is the attitude which we project out into the world which creates our life and its richness.

...and that... is a matter of choice!

Choose to be happy!

Choose to be Happy

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