January 29th, 2018
Why aren’t we happy? Oh sure, we have happy moments and happy occasions but what’s stopping us from being happy 24/7? Most of us feel pretty good about our possessions and of the opportunities available to us but why then can you walk down any street, any mall and find a dearth of smiling people?
Being born and raised in New York City I learned at a young age that if you walked down the street with a smile on your face, every beggar, street salesman and weirdo was attracted to you like you were some kind of human magnet.
When we were young and in school, smiling because you were happy would definitely get you called on for answers to the teachers questions. Your fellow students would label you pretty quickly as “strange”. At home if you sat around with a smile on your face you were obviously “up to something”. You couldn’t be happy and sick because then you were “obviously not that sick”.
The answer to why you don’t smile more is because smiling/happiness in most situations was perceived as a negative and not a positive. You faked being unhappy so we didn’t get bothered. You learned to put on your “I’m not happy, don’t bother me” face and all was well but there is a very old saying that says “The mask the actor wears soon becomes the actor”.
You became unhappy because you acted unhappy and then you came up with stories, true or exaggerated, that bolstered your claim to unhappiness. Ironically at that point you really believed you were unhappy and you started buying things and doing things and drinking and eating things to get happy but it didn’t work.”If only…” became your mantra.
Our belief in our unhappiness is flawed. We have come to feast on the negativity of this world because our own life is not that bad (feel any resistance to that statement?). We can always find any one of an infinite number of things in this world that are cruel, unfair or horrible and we can use any one of them as a great excuse for being unhappy.
The fact is you can be happy right now. You can be happy and care about the horrors of this world. You can be happy and still be involved with helping others. You can be happy and have debts and setbacks and scary changes.
Happiness is available to each of us. It may be difficult or impossible at certain times but not at all times. You’ve been conditioned to be unhappy but you can bust through that conditioning if you will stay focused on the present and on what is right in your life, on what is working well in your life, on the blessings in your life. You can practice smiling often when you are alone. You can practice by looking for what is right in this world (there’s plenty!). You can practice by trying on some happiness for no reason at all.
There is no key to happiness. The door to your happiness is always open. Walk in. Take a look around and smile.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2018 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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January 8th, 2018
What would happen if you missed the first step in a recipe? A ruined meal. What would happen if you missed the first step going up a ladder? A possible fall. What would happen if you missed the first step in doing the laundry? Pink clothes.
Why then do we think that we can get what we want if we ignore the first step?
Many people are convinced that they are born unlucky or that they will never get what they want or that some deity is withholding what they want for some lesson to be learned.
The truth is that most people don’t get what they want because they miss the first step. They don’t “feel” what they want. What they want is usually just an idea that shows up periodically in their thoughts.
This life is complex but it is a life that is filled with simple feelings and emotions. We learned early on that crying brought a needed diaper change or a meal. We pictured and felt ourselves at the beach, skiing or Disneyland long before we actually got there. Feeling are powerful!
We not only dreamed of being there, we felt what it would be like when we got there many, many times. Over and over again we felt our graduation, our move, our vacation and it happened!
The first step to getting what we want is to feel it and to feel it often. Reinforcement is crucial. If we can’t feel it, we will never experience it. Thoughts are the blueprints for what we want. Feeling are the workers that take those blueprints and create exactly what we want.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.