Choosing to Be Happy

I recently finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I've debated in my mind whether I liked the book or not, but in the end decided that there were good lessons to be learned even though the tone was "I'm holier than thou." Happiness is an interesting topic and seems to me like big business for a lot of Americans because many of us are unhappy.  I imagine that this all started with the ideas placed in our heads when we are young about The American Dream. The American Dream tells us that you can be anything you want and have anything you want as long as you work hard. That may have worked for the pioneers, but for me, I find that working hard leads to more work. Not to say that successful people don't work hard, but rather working hard isn't the only way to be success. I would say I equate success with happiness, which is wrong.

Then there's the Asian part of me that was trained from a young age to do well in school, get a good job, then be successful. I feel like got the first two pieces done well enough, but I'm still not there in terms of where I'd like to be.  I get that happiness is different for different people, but I think the one thing everyone can agree on is that happiness is being satisfied from within. I find myself jealous of people who are satisfied with their lives; people who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up from the start. 

So despite my resistance to the idea in The Happiness Project, I find myself trying to improve myself to live a happier life. I'm not unhappy, but rather I'm bothered by letting life pass me by when there's so much opportunity. Everyone can be happier. 

Before I read Happiness Project, I read The Secret and The Power by Rhonda Byrne, so in a way I was searching for something, before I was even aware of it. Happiness is big business, there are so many books and people out there giving advice about how to live happier. Not for everyone, but for some, happiness is a choice. You can either choose to be happy and enjoy your life, or you can focus on the faults. Sometimes environment plays a huge factor in being happy. Combine a negative environment with sort of a Stockholm syndrome and you're left feeling unhappy with no hope of getting out. 

So starting today I am choosing happiness. I'm going to focus on my own happiness for one year. I'm going to choose to do things that make me feel like it was all worth it. To hold myself accountable, I will also blog about the experience. 

 In the book people argued with Ms. Rubin saying that happiness is selfish. I disagree. When I'm happier, the people around me are happier. The laws of attraction in summary states, you can either attract positive or negative with just your thoughts. So you shield yourself from the negative and be positive. For me this will be one of the biggest challenges. I can be a downer dolphin with the best of them. 
So where to start?

To begin Ms. Rubin suggests marking out goals by answering the following questions:

▪ What makes you feel good? What gives you joy, energy, fun?

▪ What makes you feel bad? What brings you anger, guilt, boredom, dread?

▪ What makes you feel right? What values do you want your life to reflect?

▪ How can you build an atmosphere of growth—where you learn, explore, build, teach, help?

From there, you set your goals and break them down onto a resolution chart. Here's what I got so far: Click Here

There's really nothing to lose, so it's worth a shot. If anyone wants to join me, I hear that's a good thing, so please let me know. There is currently no Happiness Project group in Orlando. Or if you would like to borrow the book, I'd be happy to loan it out.