Stop Seeking Happiness, Be Happy Now
My husband doesn’t understand why so many of us are seeking happiness – reading books, going to seminars, listening to motivational audio programs.
He said to me, “What makes you happy now? Why don’t you just focus on those things? Isn’t it the seeking that takes you away from those things that already make you happy?”
In a way, he is right. It seems that so many of us are seeking happiness outside of ourselves, from various gurus, that we have forgotten to take inventory of the blessings that already exist in our lives.
It’s such a simple idea. I love it. And I am thankful for my husband for gently reminding me of this simple truth: that we can be happy, right now.
Take a moment to consider this question. What is it in your life, right now, that makes you happy?
For me, the answer to this question is pretty simple: my family, learning ideas that inspire me, writing and helping people through my writing. Everything else that I think I need, like acquiring new things and becoming rich, isn’t what I need to be happy. They are the extra things that we are conditioned to think we need to be happy.
And if I expand on the question and list out all the activities that bring happiness to my experience, I’ll discover that the list is long and plenty.
Now imagine this, what if we just focused on our list of things that already make us happy? Wouldn’t we then, by association of our focused attention, be happy?
Perhaps the answer to finding happiness is easier than we think. Perhaps, we’ve already found it.
-Tina
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Mary Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tina, You are so right. Today I am thankful for the people in my life after cancer woke me up. Today little things mean so much to me-Thanks for your kind reminder