Everybody wants to be happy, but most people give up their happiness for just about anything.
Have you seen people do any of the following – and maybe even done something similar yourself?
- Someone cuts in front of them on the highway, so they slam down the horn and shout some choice words – even though they know the other person can’t hear them.
- They see something negative in the news – a disaster, a crime, a political squabble – and they get upset. They may rant about how terrible everything is or frantically search the Internet for more details.
- They lose their job and feel like their life is falling apart. They get angry, blaming their boss, their coworkers, or the economy. They panic about their future, go into victim mode, and become bitter and depressed.
We all do things like this to some degree. We lose our cool and abandon our happiness because things happen that we don’t like. They seem like threats, so we feel afraid and angry.
But there’s ONE thing you have to understand if you want to be happy:
External events don’t make you UNhappy.
You do.
Specifically, it’s your MIND that makes you unhappy… by creating negative stories about what’s going on around you.
How You Make Yourself Unhappy
There’s a common misconception that your happiness is supposed to be affected by external factors, such as traffic, the news, or losing your job…
You may think:
“I’ll be happy when _____” Or…
“I’m frustrated because of _____” Or…
“_____ makes me so mad!”
As humans, we can have a wide range of emotions, and we feel them as reactions to what’s going on around us. That’s only natural, right?
Well, yes and no.
Research shows that how you think about happiness plays a big role in how happy you feel. If you think of your happiness as fragile, temporary, or based on the conditions of your life, it will be. Because every time there’s a problem or a challenge, your mind will go, “Whoa, something went wrong! Time to be unhappy!”
Of course, we want to be able to feel all of our emotions, but that doesn’t mean they have to control our lives. We should be able to explore the world around us and experience feelings associated with living in that world, but that doesn’t mean we lose ourselves to those emotions.
Even if you have a moment of some negative feelings, you don’t have to let it take away your baseline happiness. Happiness comes from inside of you.
Don’t Let Outside Factors Determine Your Level Of Happiness
Attaching your happiness to external factors is a recipe for misery.
For example, how do you feel about money? Financial success is one of the most common areas of unhappiness in the world!
Now, you probably know I’m a big proponent of gaining financial freedom and even establishing wealth. However, I would never put my economic position above my happiness… or make my happiness dependent on my bank account. And there’s research on the benefits of this viewpoint, too.
One study found that people who place too much importance on their financial status and getting rich quickly tend to be less happy. No matter how much money they have or how much success they achieve, it never feels like enough.
This is why I always tell my students that work is not just about making money. They should pursue tasks they love doing and activities that also help people. Because if you’re smart about your professional and occupational decisions, you’re practically guaranteed to be not only rich but also happy.
3 Reasons Why You Must Prioritize Happiness
So whether you are reacting to a Facebook post or choosing a new career path, you must remember that your happiness is your ultimate goal. If you want to be happy, you have to be intentional about it. Here’s why:
1. Your Mind Is NOT Wired For Happiness
Your mind is wired for survival, so most of the thoughts it creates are based in fear, not happiness. It’s on constant alert for everything that is or could be wrong. That’s its job. And we need it to do its job. We just can’t let it take over every response in our life if we want to be happy, because that’s not its job.
2. Practice Makes Permanent (Not Perfect!)
To have true and lasting happiness, you have to practice stepping outside the programming of your own mind.
First, decide what to think about happiness, and then practice those thoughts that will help you be happy. What you practice, you will create in your life… for better or worse.
If you practice bitching and complaining now, I guarantee you’ll be bitching and complaining later. And if you practice being happy and appreciative now, I guarantee you’ll be happy and appreciative later.
3. Your Priorities Channel Your Energy
When you choose to make happiness a priority in your life, you will notice that your thoughts are now focused and clear. You will naturally channel your energy towards things that serve you. You will develop a framework for facing difficult situations, making decisions, and facing those fear-based thoughts your mind is always creating.
If happiness is your priority and you lose your job, you won’t feel like your life is falling apart. You’ll be able to look at it as an opportunity. And you’ll use your creative energy to build something even better for yourself.
If you don’t prioritize your happiness, you’ll keep focusing your energy on problems… whether real or imagined.
The bottom line, is if you can’t tap into happiness on the inside, you will never be satisfied with material possessions or with anything you do in life. So let’s make happiness your top priority, and let the rest of your life flow from there.
How To Prioritize Your Happiness
Now that you hopefully understand why you should prioritize happiness, you might be wondering how to do it.
I’ve been prioritizing happiness for a long time, studying and practicing what it really takes to be truly happy. Would you like to know what I’ve discovered?
Well, I’ve got some great news! I’ve developed a set of seven principles that have transformed my life and made me a much happier person. One of them, which we’ve been talking about here, is that you have to prioritize happiness.
I’d love to share the other six with you, so I’ve put together a FREE, brand-new online training to walk you through them. It’s called:
The Shocking Truth About Happiness
If you join me for this FREE training, I guarantee you will be much better equipped to create real and lasting happiness in your life.
Here’s a taste of what you’ll discover:
- Why happiness is your natural state of being
- How to eliminate the true source of UNhappiness
- How to be happy AND achieve more in life
- The 7 precepts of happiness you MUST understand in order to be truly happy
And much, much more!
Remember, time is your most precious asset. In less time than it takes to sit through a few episodes of a Netflix show, you can attend this class and get on the path to a completely new and much more joyful life.
In fact, just by signing up, you’re taking your first action step in prioritizing your own happiness.
Click here to pick the best date and time for you. I hope to see you there!
Your turn! What’s one way you could prioritize your happiness today? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
For Your Freedom,
UP NEXT:
3 Habits Of Incredibly Happy People
Himanshu says
What a wonderful piece of pure wisdom. A lot changes when you put your focus upon right things.
I could have wasted next 10 years if I would not have been introduced to life changing Quantum Leap program.
You are a blessing.
Juma Cangy says
To have a millionaire mind 1st change myself, I start and finish a day happinesses. With Harv Eker support I have been setup my mind to keep happiness, I’m reaching my personal development day by day.
Oscar Ibarra says
Me comprometo a ser feliz y millonario en este año 2020