Moments of Light

Choosing Happiness

Entry 1.

The Little Things.

I think a lot of our personal happiness comes from within.  It is decided and determined by our perception and perspective of the little things. What we assume is meant by a word or phrase can change the entire feeling of a conversation.  How we react to a given situation can make or break the mood.

Perception.

What is it and why does it affect our happiness?  Perception in the simplest of terms is how our mind sees things. It is our experience of the world through our senses. We often mistake our perception of a situation for reality.  Our senses are easily tricked or confused.  We see things from one angle or view, whereas reality sees from every angle and view. This is a very important factor to our happiness. A large amount of confusion and frustration is caused by this small mental error of assuming that our viewpoint or perception of a situation is in fact the whole truth and reality.

Once we come to understand that our perception can and will be misleading from time to time, we can begin the groundwork to overcome this obstacle. They are our senses. We possess and own them. In the same way that people with poor eye sight need glasses to adjust their sight, people with poor perception need to make mental adjustments too.  Recognize your weaknesses. This allows you to overcome your pride and avoid making waves if you may have perceived something incorrectly.  How this helps. Your happiness is what is at stake here. Avoiding the things that hinder our happiness is half the battle.

Perceive Positively.

Our perception will always be flawed, we don't have the capacity to experience every event from every angle, simultaneously and without bias. Face it. It isn't going to happen. Recognize that in large amounts our perception operates on educated guesses and rough estimations.  We get as much information as we can but at the end of the day there is still an assumption made that fills in the gaps. Often times it is the assumption that determines our emotional response to a given situation. Here is the twist. Those assumptions are ours. We create them in our minds. We control them. If we over think a situation or assume the worst we are bound to hinder our happiness.  The good news is that this is in our control.  We can assume for the best. We can have positive thoughts and infuse our days with happiness.  This sounds easy but will take a lot of practice to master.

Make it a goal to stop yourself from filling in the blanks with anything unless it is positive.  Try it out and see how it works.

Perspective.

Perspective and perception go hand in hand. Perspective in this sense is defined as a Mental view or outlook.  I've already taken a moment to talk about making positive assumptions in our personal perception of reality, but where does that positive viewpoint come from? That is where your perspective comes into play.  Our minds are powerful beyond our comprehension. The simple principle of whether or not you believe something is possible can enable or limit your ability to accomplish it.  Establishing a positive outlook on things is imperative to achieving our happiness and maintaining it.

Thinking positively comes naturally to a lot of people, but not everyone. Being positive is a choice.  You can do it. We all can. It starts with the little things.  Find something new to appreciate every day.  It doesn't have to be anything big.  Learn to pick something and consciously choose to appreciate it and find something positive about it. This mental exercise that will help you think more positively.

Let's get one thing straight, no one is asking you to change who you are. If you are naturally quiet, you will probably stay quiet.  If you love adventure, nothing should change that. Thinking positively should only enhance who you are.  Don't forget the endpoint. We deserve to be happy, doing what we love.

Make it a goal to find something positive about every situation you run into.  Write it down if you think that will help. Make a game out of it. Try and find as many positive things about a situation as you can.

I truly believe that by teaching ourselves not to jump to negative assumptions and pushing ourselves to see and value the positives in our lives we will increase our happiness.