Happiness is a Choice

Have you thought to yourself -”The day i get a million dollar i will be happy”. Or "Now i'm going to study so hard and when il get 90 plus marks then I'll be the most happiest". Or maybe in a relationship when you say “only when i get my spouse of my dream i will have real happiness”.

If not such Herculean targets, small ones like “when i loose 10kg then i’ll be happy “ or “when i get that promotion at work then i’ll be happy.!!!” i am sure many of us have been there.

If not, you are lying .

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” — Marcus Aurelius

Happiness is a choice. A choice we make . Happiness is a state of mind and an inner feeling, which you don’t need to communicate to the outer world. Happiness cannot be linked to external factors because the happiness you seek in them is short lived or in fact not what you are actually seeking for. There is a reason why our brains function this why. We Humans have evolved in time with a trait call “Negativity Bias “ . This is due to our ancestors being wired mostly on survival mode. “will i get food ?", “will i be eaten by a tiger? ”will i survive tomorrow ?”.

Human brains have evolved with negative thoughts because it was what kept them alive. Absence of negativity can lead you into trouble .But what we haven’t focused on is to reduce the quotient of it.

So now when you laugh out loud, your mind will say “you were laughing too much today, something bad is going to happen to you.” Eventually we actually end up shutting ourselves to happiness or laughter and end up by only being more miserable during tough times. Then you wire your brain to the mantra

“Dont be so happy ever again”

Happiness is a choice. We humans have an innate power to flip . You don’t believe me. Okay, let's take an example. Imagine you are having a heated argument with your friend. You are upset and irritated . At that moment you get call from the President of your country, what would be your reaction ? i think most of us would put aside our anger and greet him and shamelessly answer “I am fine Sir” to his question “how are you doing?” and talk politely with love . So was that a choice?

Being happy all the time, i.e absolute happiness is something hard to achieve.You don’t need to smile and giggle to show how great you feel. You don’t need to post photos on social media to prove you’re “happy.”Those aren’t the pathways to happiness. You’re the only person who knows how to make yourself feel good.

So go do that and be relentless about prioritizing your peace of mind over anyone’s expectations.Never handover the keys of happiness to someone or something and expect it to open the door of happiness for you.