emotions

… choose happiness.

… and the catch?

You always have a choice.

That’s a message that some people don’t want to hear.

How often do we go around saying things like, “He made me so cross!” or “She just winds me up!”

When did we give these people power and control over our emotions?

There’s a little fact about how emotions work and it’s the opposite of what most of us believe.
Only you can choose whether or not you experience a particular emotion.
Sorry! No one else can choose for you.

Of course, they can provide some pretty strong stimuli to get you feeling worked up / hacked off / at the end of your tether, but ultimately the emotion you choose is just that – the emotion you choose.

So in every situation you experience, you have a choice: to go for the yucky, not feeling so happy emotion, or to opt for the happier one. Only you can decide.

Happiness is a sliding scale. It’s not about having the proverbial brown stuff hit the fan and responding with rapturous joy. It’s about climbing a few steps up the “feeling good ladder”, rather than sliding quickly down the “feeling worse snake”.

The great thing is there’s no right or wrong. It’s entirely up to you what you choose. And given that you’re old enough to be reading this website, you’ve also had enough life experience to know whether you prefer to feel happy or sad.

So my challenge to you, just for today, is:

Whatever happens to you today, make sure you choose whether or not to feel happy about it.

And when you choose happiness, just notice the difference that makes.