So What Are Your Plans For Happiness?

Be Happy Now !

If you are still waiting for your circumstances to change before you"ll allow yourself to be happy, you may be wasting perfectly good happy time. Most of us have preconceived ideas of what would make us happy, and we refuse to be satisfied until those things happen. You may have set a goal to reach before you will allow yourself to be joyful or happy. Remember, the most fun and the greatest blessings should be enjoyed on the way to your success.

The problem is that even once specific things happen in our lives, we're rarely satisfied with them! Instead, we shift our focus and desires to something even bigger and better, believing "it" will make us happy (or happier). We never allow ourselves to reach a point of contentment. Have you done the same thing to yourself?

The good news is that you can choose to be happy NOW - even if some things in your life is not perfect. Some people may think they are betraying their goal by having fun and enjoying themselves before they grab the brass ring. Not true! Part of a good vacation or trip is the trip itself. My mother always made the destination her only goal and she preferred to have 'Scotty' beam her up rather than to enjoy the trip. Some of my best memories are of road trips with my mom and dad and listening to different shows on the radio like Amos and Andy, Lum and Abner, Jack Benny and Rochester, the Lucky Strike Hit Parade, and others.

It is indeed your choice to be happy or miserable getting to your goal. It is much more fun and many more memories are created if you choose to enjoy the trip to your successful goal. When you reach your goal, there is not much else to do so you should have fun on your way there. You may not have another chance to recapture those lost moments with your family.

Below you"ll find 3 easy ways to do so:

1) Be grateful and acknowledge it out loud. Gratitude is one of the most powerful states of mind that you can adopt. Not only does it make you feel good, it shifts your focus from what you don't have to what you DO have, and keeps it there! As you focus more on what you are grateful to have in your life (even the really small blessings!), you worry less about anything that may be lacking. The result? A more pervasive sense of happiness! Gratitude clears your mind and makes room for joy. If you get your mind off of yourself and make room for thankfulness you will have fewer gray hairs and it is a good way to avoid wrinkles.

2) "Take time to smell the roses." If you spend most of your days feeling rushed and scattered, it's hard to feel happy and content. In order to be truly happy, you need to make time for yourself to relax, dream, and take pleasure in life's simpler moments. Beginning today, make sure to spend time doing things you love on a regular basis. Read books that stimulate your imagination; listen to great music; take long walks, and generally make an effort to enjoy your life as it is right now.

When my first granddaughter, Jordan, was just two or three years old, she and I would get together at least once a week and go to lunch somewhere, just she and I. She is now twelve and just yesterday she was recalling times that we went to lunch together in my pickup truck and the different places we went to get our lunch and then where we would go to eat it. We usually went to a park so she could play and we could talk about different things. Those times away from the office to be with Jordan are some of my happiest memories. The goal was still there when I got back, but I had joy with me.

3) Love the journey. Many of us make the mistake of pinning all of our expectations on some vague, far-off result, like the completion of goals. We believe that once we "get there" everything will be perfect and we"ll finally be happy. However, there is much to be gained from enjoying the journey TO your destination! Make it your mission to revel in every moment that you"re working toward higher goals. Enjoy the sense of self-mastery and accomplishment you gain with every goal you achieve. Make it a worthwhile journey and you will savor the end result even more!

The most important thing to understand about happiness is that it is largely a CHOICE you make from moment to moment and it usually lasts just a little while. Though certain serious situations make it difficult to feel happy at times, most often we allow the little things to bother us and block any happiness we would otherwise feel. Embrace happiness, and it will grow to monstrous proportions in your life!

Cause Joy!