Is your happiness resting on the achievement of your goals?

"There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way"
Mother Teresa

What a wise women she was. Happiness is something that comes from inside yourself and not a journey we undertake. A state of being rather than a state of doing. It shouldn't depend on the lottery, Mr. or Mrs. Right or that last ten pounds. Happiness is a choice, a clear decision. Yeah right. Forgive me if I take a step back, but REALLY. What does that mean in real terms?

It's a choice
I have heard this more times that I care to count. Many times the answer I got was just decide to be happy. Like that was an easy thing to do. Like most things there is a little more to it but not a lot. You do have to make a decision to be happy. You have to really want it.

Not being happy is a habit
We react to the world around us from an emotional base or so we thought. But it is more than an emotional response. Our reaction is an automatic response. Our mood is also a habit. This is how you feel when this happens or you are thinking about this (what ever this is). Our brain trains itself to respond to the same set of triggers just the same way it develops any other habit. This is also why you keep going back to the same set of thoughts. With the same set of feelings. You can retrain yourself to be happy.  But you have to pay attention.

Pay attention to what you are thinking.
Paying attention to what you are thinking and then how you are feeling about those thoughts are the first steps in retraining yourself to live in a happy state. Once you have observed what you are thinking then you need only catch yourself when your mind wonders off into the negative abyss it likes to wallow in and redirect it to a more positive place. This will take time and practice but it will get easier and easier. Don't rush it and don't be hard on yourself. It took years to get to this lovely place you call misery.