Three Tips To Fall Into Joy

A recent Harris Poll indicates that only one in three Americans are happy.

Success, education and increased annual household income create only marginally more happiness. So what is it that stands between you and being happy?

What can you do to be happier? Here are a few tips.

Stop “Shoulding” On Yourself

How much time do you spend regretting and lamenting over your past; over all of the things that you should have done, should have had, should have said?

All of that “shoulding” only creates more frustration, more of a sense of being wrong and more unhappiness.

What can you do? While we’re striving to change our life or wishing things could have been different, we often forget to pay attention to what we have right now.

Be grateful for what you HAVE accomplished, even the things that didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to. After all, those things combined brought you to this moment in your life and you can change anything from here forward!

Practice Gratitude – Life As A Parking Space

Grateful people tend to appreciate simple pleasures.

They tend to be less serious and less attached to the outcome of a situation.

They treat life more like a parking space. If they get a parking space up front they say “YES, I created that, YAY!” and if they don’t get one up front, they say, ”Oh well, I guess I must have needed more exercise today”. They are grateful for either outcome.

What if you could treat more of what happens in your life as having no more significance than a parking space?

Allow Yourself to Be Happy

Of course you allow yourself to be happy!

Or do you?

So often people hang-on most tightly to things that upset them, make them want to prove that they are right, places they want recognition, and so on. They tend to not allow themselves to be happy unless certain conditions are met … the kids take out the garbage, their spouse admits to being wrong, they get a raise, etc, etc, etc.

What if you just allowed yourself to be happy now, without conditions?

What if you allowed yourself to be happy without expecting it to come from somewhere or someone else, without having it be dependent upon the outcome of events you have fixated upon?

What if you just allowed yourself to be happy?

Happiness Is Just A Choice

So it all comes down to what you would like your life to be. After all, happiness is a choice that anyone can make, regardless of their history or circumstances.

You can choose to be happy at any time. You can choose to let go of the significance of the things you have decided are creating your unhappiness and, instead, allow happiness to exist in their place.

You can BE Happy!

You can CHOOSE Happiness!

It’s an inside job! Let it blossom within you!

Looking for more ways to start being the true you? Check out my eBook “Questions to Change Your Life“ to help you explore what possibilities you actually have in your life.