When you hear the word happiness, I am wondering what comes to mind for you… Do you feel that is your natural state? Is it something elusive that you wish you had more of? Is it something that floats in and out of your life? Just let that roll of your tongue… Happiness. Does it conjure up any visions or feelings?
Now try smiling (if you are not already). Just do it. It is amazing how instantly, no matter how resistant we are, that we cannot help but be uplifted, even just a bit, when we smile. I read something once – I believe it was in one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books (Blink, I think) – that said that a study was done, and they found that the actual physical act of smiling chemically released feelings of happiness, just as the act of frowning actually could make you feel quite sad and depressed, even if you weren’t when you started off. I encourage you to try this throughout the day and see what happens. Well, actually, I would encourage the smiling part, not the frowning part (I tried that once for just a few minutes and I felt so bad that I vowed never to do it again intentionally), since the idea is to bring more happiness into our lives rather than the other way around.
I put the smiling part to the test for the first time a few years ago, when I was running my first, and so far last, marathon. I had been training many months, and was set to finish at under 4 hours or so. However, during our final training run I injured my knee quite badly. I had taken three weeks off before the race, as my coach had suggested, and hoped for the best. However, when the great day came, I got about a mile into the race and realized that I was not going to have the race I had hoped. Nonetheless, after letting the realization of all of this sink in, I decided to keep running anyway. I decided that I was going to finish the race, no matter how long it took me. And I was going to do it with a smile on my face.
So, I developed this little hobble movement that allowed me to keep “running” but that adjusted for my injury, and I kept keeping myself pepped up, as did the coaches who ran with me and the crowd. Nonetheless, I swear to you, when I began to feel the pain overtaking me or the disappointment settle in, I simply forced myself to smile. And, wouldn’t you know it, I began to feel better – euphoric, even. Of course, my smile also won over the cheering crowds, who shouted my name when I passed, encouraged coaches I didn’t even know to come over and run with me, all sorts of wonderful things.
But really, a smile does much more than help you feel better. It is your doorway into the heart of the people you come into contact with, and it has more power than you could ever imagine. Happiness can be with us if we just allow ourselves to be there more often. I noticed that I after reading Andy Andrews’ (www.andyandrews.com) Fifth Decision for Success from The Traveler’s Gift (for the first four, see my past blogs or get this great book!), and for diligently practicing this for the past month, I am finding that I am noticing more when I am happy and when I am not. I am also noticing that I am even more happy than usual because I know now that it is my choice.
Just as Beyond Freedom (one of the products we market and use in my business; see my website at the end of this post for more info) talks about, everything in our life is a choice; we are not at the whim of the external world, but rather have the power to view the world as we wish, and to create a reality for ourselves that is filled with joy, happiness and abundance.
This is hard for many to wrap their minds around, but I ask you to simply consider that you do have a choice about how you feel at any give moment, and that you can be at cause in your life, rather than at effect at any time you choose. So why not choose to be more happy?
Andrew’s passage (pp.108-110) from the Traveler’s Gift puts this into a wonderful perspective:
The Fifth Decision for Success
Today I will choose to be happy.
Beginning this very moment, I am a happy person, for I now truly understand the concept of happiness. Few others before me have been able to grasp the truth of the physical law that enables one to live happily every day. I know now that happiness is not an emotional phantom floating in and out of my life. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is the end result of certain thoughts and activities, which actually bring about a chemical reaction in my body. This reaction results in a euphoria that, while elusive to some, is totally under my control.
Today I will choose to be happy. I will greet each day with laughter.
Within moments of awakening, I will laugh for seven seconds. Even after such a small period of time, excitement has begun to flow through my bloodstream. I feel different, I am different! I am enthusiastic about the day. I am alert to its possibilities. I am happy!
Laughter is an outward expression of enthusiasm, and I know that enthusiasm is the fuel that moves the world. I laugh throughout the day. I laugh while I am alone, and I laugh in conversation with others. People are drawn to me because I have laughter in my heart. The world belongs to the enthusiastic, for people will follow them anywhere.
Today I will choose to be happy. I will smile at every person I meet.
My smile has become my calling card. It is, after all, the most potent weapon I possess. My smile has the strength to forge bonds, break ice, and calm storms. I will use my smile constantly. Because of my smile, the people with whom I come in contact on a daily basis will choose to further my causes and follow my leadership. I will always smile first. That particular display of a good attitude will tell others what I expect in return.
Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
In the past, I have found discouragement in particular situations until I compared the condition of my life to others less fortunate. Just as a fresh breeze cleans smoke from the air, so a grateful spirit removes the cloud of despair. It is impossible for the seeds of depression to take root in a thankful heart.
My God has bestowed upon me many gifts, and for those I will remember to be grateful. Too many times I have offered up the prayers of a beggar, always asking for more and forgetting to give thanks. I do not wish to be seen as a greedy child, unappreciative and disrespectful. I am grateful for sight and sound and breath. If ever in my life there is a pouring out of blessings beyond that, then I will be grateful for the miracle of abundance.
I will greet each day with laughter. I will smile at every person I meet. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
Today I will choose to be happy.
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I again encourage you to get your hands on a copy of the whole book, since each story that proceeds each decision is almost as powerful as the decision itself. I also I remind and encourage you, as Andrews suggests, to read the above passage every morning and every night for the next 21 days straight, and see how it gets into your consciousness.
So, I urge you to give this happiness thing a good go, and to experiment and see what happens if you laugh for seven seconds every morning (it is amazing how when you force yourself to laugh long enough, you cannot help but laugh for real), as well as what happens if you smile at every person you meet (in a genuine way, not a creepy way, of course!) and see how this affects your life and your moods on a day to day basis.
I would love to hear how this goes for any of you, and I wish you a lovely month!
Sending joy, hope and abundance your way,
Becky Ringler
www.FreeYourSuccessfulMindToday.com
What a wonderful, and poignant piece… thank you for sharing!