Happiness Starts With You

Happiness starts with you.  Not with your relationships, not with your job, not with your friends, not with your money, BUT WITH YOU. ~Robert Tew

Have you ever been around someone who talked about their happiness depending on everything except themselves?

Oh, if only their marriage were better.  If only their spouse didn’t do certain things.  If only their spouse communicated better, they would be so much happier.

And what about their jobs, their careers?  I’ve talked to people before whose entire existence was wrapped up in a mean supervisor.  They worked with them all day and then when they went home at night, they talked about them all night.  They talked about how terrible they were to work with.  “Oh, if only I had a different job, I’d be so much happier,” they would constantly say.

And friends…oh Lord.  Years ago I was “friends” with someone who constantly talked about how our other friends treated her.  If it wasn’t one girl hurting her feelings, it was another one saying the wrong thing.  She used to ask me, “Should I just get new friends?”  I mean, really, who asks that?  Especially to someone who is friends with all these people she’s talking about.  Looking back, I think she suffered from social anxiety, but at the time, I was so confused.  I couldn’t understand how every little thing hurt her feelings and she was constantly demanding an apology from one of us.

And let’s talk about money.  I think as we get older, we realize that money can’t and won’t make you happy.  Money can only buy material things.  It can’t buy the really important things like love, family and friends.

Happiness is an inside job.  You cannot depend on your relationships, your job, your friends or money to make you happy.  You find happiness within and spread that happiness around to your relationships, your job, your friends and with the things you decide to do with your money.

You’ve heard the saying, “Happiness is not the destination, it’s the journey.”  It’s true.  You must find your happiness while traveling your journey.  Happiness is a state of mind, a feeling in your heart and soul and can’t be “gotten” in life.  You must bring happiness to life, to your life.

It’s easy to get stuck in the “everyone-and-everything-else-determines-my-happiness” rut.  It’s easy because you don’t have to look inward to find out what you need to do to be happy.  Choosing to own who you are and deciding that you will be happy, takes some work.  But it is oh so worth it.  When you own your happiness, every piece of your life is happier…your relationships, your job, your friendships, your financial situation and the all-around-YOU.

Just own it.  Decide that only you determine your happiness and do what you need to do to be happy.

Blessings to you!

Charity