Every single day of our lives we are faced with hundreds, possibly thousands of choices. The most important choice in your life is the commitment to being happy, to choose happiness.
Do not take this statement lightly, this isn’t a choice you can make today and change tomorrow because you are having a bad day. This is a life long commitment. Every single day we can choose how we feel, it is up to us how we respond to everyday events that can affect our mood.
I recently listened to a fantastic podcast interview between Lewis Howes and Tony Robbins. If you are looking for some inspiring motivational speakers I highly recommend these two men. I love Lewis Howes’ podcasts, especially his 5 minute Fridays as they are like quick shots of positivity for busy people.
This particular interview with the legendary Tony Robbins struck a chord for me for several reasons but the main one was: the concept that choosing to be happy is THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION OF YOUR LIFE.
Life is Hard
Life is stressful and there is guaranteed to be hard times for everyone, people will die, we may suffer financially, our health may suffer and any of these events may affect us. This is fact. There will be these days in life. It is how we deal with these stress factors that will affect our happiness levels. It is ok to feel sad when hard times are upon us but the important decision is to not allow the sadness to remain. We must be mindful of our feelings and pick how we want to feel on each day.
Beautiful State of Mind
Tony Robbins suggests that we need to live in a beautiful state of mind, meaning happiness with NO conditions. For example, saying I will be happy as long as (insert negative event here) is putting a condition on when you can feel happiness. This is not committing to being happy. Negative things are often out of our control and we need to commit to live without suffering, knowing these events will occur.
Accept The Moments
We will have moments of suffering, however, whenever we get frustrated, stressed or hurt we need to allocate a short period of time to allow that suffering, ideally no more than a minute or two depending on the specific situation.
Consider ‘worry’ for a moment; It is a useless emotion. If you are worrying about something that can be changed, change it. If it cannot be changed then what is the point of suffering through that worry? Whenever we are in this state of suffering we are useless at helping ourselves and others. So acknowledge this, find something to be grateful for and move on. An excellent tool to help us find gratitude is using comparison towards those less fortunate than ourselves.
Shorten The Suffering
Most things we make ourselves suffer through are fleeting moments that are forgotten in an hour, a day or a week, so why make that period of suffering longer? It is not helping you or anyone else.
Consider your average day, the stress that we feel running late for work, the anger we feel towards someone pushing past us on our morning commute, the angst we feel to get through our emails and the pressure we feel to get in a workout. These are just some examples of useless worry and stress. It is completely normal to feel these things, however we are in control of how we respond to negative emotions. We can mindfully acknowledge the emotion, realise that these feelings are not serving us, take a breath and choose to continue the day in a more peaceful state of mind and with happiness in mind. For more ways to let go of negative thought patterns, check out this article.
“Happiness is found in the absence of expectation and a continuous focus on appreciation.” – Tony Robbins
Put It All Together
So how do you commit to a beautiful state of mind and feel happiness everyday? Stop sweating the small stuff. Its almost ALL small stuff. Accept that shit happens. Be grateful you have that experience to learn.
Give your time and energy and contribute to something. I promise you that if you help others in any way possible that you will feel joy. You will also notice what other people are experiencing and I am certain this will cause you to experience gratitude for your life and what you have. The grass is rarely actually greener.
If you find yourself in a state of suffering, consider this; It is usually because you lost something; Love, Money, Health. Or you have less of something, and you’re comparing yourself to someone with more. Or you have told yourself you can never do something, which is rarely a fact . All these things are selfish, self obsessing thoughts. Recognise this and open your eyes to anything around you that you can appreciate and be grateful for.
“Happiness is a decision” – Tony Robbins
Mindfulness
Mindfully take time to measure your happiness levels frequently, like anything that you are working on, the progress levels need to be checked regularly so that we stay on track. This means checking in with yourself several times a day, several times an hour would be ideal. Anything can affect our mood at any time but if we keep our ‘suffering’ in check every few minutes, that suffering is not given the opportunity to manifest or waste precious time in our lives. Life is too short to spend it suffering. I strongly suggest adding the habit of a meditation or yoga practice to your life, even just a 10-20 minute practice each day will develop mindfulness skills to assist you in keeping your thoughts in check.
Choose Happiness
I challenge you to begin from this exact moment to live your life in a beautiful state of mind, to choose happiness. To accept the things you cannot change, to not waste anymore time suffering, to give in any way possible to others, even a friendly smile or a few minutes of actually truly listening to someone when they are speaking is a great start. Most of all, practice gratitude. Choose Happiness.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this article and to hear ways you choose happiness in your lives in the comment section below. If you have enjoyed what you have read, please subscribe in the footer, share and let’s connect on social media!
Love & Light
Lauren x
