Happiness Is Our Natural State

Did you spend time thinking about what you are creating? You create what you expect.  What did you learn about yourself and your expectations?  Were you moving forward or were you finding yourself holding back?  It’s amazing to realize how much our thinking is scientifically connected to our actions.

John Wooden is quoted to have said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” Tony Dungy said, “When you are in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things.  But how are you going to make the situation better?”

According to Jim Britt, “Happiness is our natural state, unhappiness is a learned behavior.” Aren’t a positive mindset and an abundant expectancy what each of these leaders is saying in the above quotes? “Most of the pain and suffering we experience is of our own making.”  YIKES! How can that be true? If that is true then that means I really am in control of how I look at and handle various challenges in my life.  Jim Britt explains in his Power of Letting Go CD’s, that this pain and suffering develops from our own hearts and minds.  It comes out of our own misconceptions and confusion about the cause of the pain and suffering. Our tendency is to look outward for the cause rather than inward.

As many professionals will tell us, “If we want something different, we must DO something different.”  The definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Even the young football player in the movie Blindside, took control over his situation and was willing to do something different to get different results.

We all have problems in our lives!  That’s a given. However, HOW we handle those problems is what the difference maker is. We can LEARN how to deal with them if we’re willing to do something different. The blaming, pointing a finger, not taking responsibility, and not taking any action to change the situation isn’t beneficial and definitely will NOT allow us to move forward.  Life involves having problems yet the critical component is how WE personally deal with the problems.  Since problems are a fact of life, I would propose that our mindset, our expectancy of a positive outcome, is how we will move forward.  The dissatisfaction's we harbor are within us, therefore they are ones we are able to let go of in order to move on.  The “poor pitiful me” attitude IS NOT CONSTRUCTIVE and will not lead to any type of change.

We need three realizations in order to find happiness and true well-being, according to Jim Britt.  (1) “Life is fleeting.”  Here we are the middle of October and 2016 is just around the corner.  Where did this year go? Rather than having the “tomorrow” time agenda – DO IT TODAY! (2) “We are complete and worthy of good things in our lives.” Some people have a limiting belief system and don’t feel they’re worthy. STOP that limited thinking and find ABUNDANCE! We ARE all worthy in God’s eyes. (3) “We are our own refuge. We are in control of our situation and therefore our mindset of happiness and contentment.”

I am a total believer of the idea we have control over our own thinking.  So why is it that so many people appear to be unhappy and discontent?  Why is it that some people are critical of others yet they are also guilty of some of those same behaviors?  Why is it that some people will use their religious beliefs when it’s “handy” and yet don’t walk their talk in their day to day interactions? Once again I refer back to Jim’s suggestions of why these actions are happening: (1) We aren’t getting what we want in life. (2) We may be getting what we thought we wanted, however, we’re not satisfied. (3) We are suffering the absence of something or someone to love. (4) We are having to endure the presence of something or someone we don’t want in our lives. (5) We spend more time living in the past and wishing things were different, or we are living for what we hope or fear is the future.  We are NOT living in the present which is where we are at any given moment. Do you fall into any of these five categories? Be real with yourself when you answer that question.

Happiness and contentment is seeing life the way it is versus the way we WISH it would be.  It comes from seeing the truth and either embracing it or making changes.  In order to do that, we have to be self-observant.  Our action needs to be in the form of a decision, an intention, to do something different.  We also need to be willing to take the necessary steps to make a change. Where are YOU? Decide!  Take Action!

With those thoughts in mind, I return to the quotes at the beginning of this blog…

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

“When you are in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things.  But how are you going to make the situation better?”

I applaud those of you who are making the most of each and every day.  I applaud those of you who are making the decision to change no matter how difficult, no matter how other’s will be critical, no matter how often you’ve attempted something and failed…you are getting up one more time.  Vince Lombardi said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.”  I applaud each and every one of you who are getting back up and are making a difference in your life.

Here’s to a week of making each challenging situation better and having that abundant and positive mindset that YOU are important and YOU are in control of your own happiness and contentment.