The Important Lesson You Never Had About Happiness
What you think you know about happiness and what I’m about to tell you are probably two completely different things. The tactic presented in this article will change your perspective. Most people go through life believing that they will only be able to achieve happiness in life when they achieve their goals. That is a myth. This article is about the lesson you never had about happiness. It is a lesson I believe schools should teach everyone from an early age. How wonderful would it be if we all grew up knowing this!
One thing I have learned is that, in fact, happiness is not a feeling you will obtain due to external circumstances. It is an inside job, and it can be done here today, where you are at right now. One other thing I learned is that what you focus on, expands. What that means is that, if you have a habit of being grateful to the good things you have in your life right now, even if you have not yet achieved your bigger goals, you are training your brain to identify more things to be grateful for, and that becomes a chain reaction.
The Focus Lesson
If you have a habit of focusing on the negative, you are training your brain to do the opposite. Focusing on the negative will only help you find reasons to keep complaining about how everything is wrong and unfair. That then becomes a habit, and you will unconsciously attract more of that into your life, through the energy field you put your body into.
By intentionally focusing on the positive, you’ll notice this leads not only in a change of perception but on a change of your reality. You will not only notice more things to be grateful for, but you will have more of them. The reason for that is, when you actively shift your focus to one of gratitude and positive thinking, it changes your brain chemistry. Let me tell you exactly how that works.
The Brain Chemistry Lesson
More Happiness Hormones
When you focus on gratitude and positive thoughts it triggers the release of the “feel good” hormones dopamine and serotonin. There are other ways to influence the production of these happiness neurotransmitters, of course, such as physical exercise, or eating chocolate, but these can be overdone. You can never over practice gratitude, though. This proves the point that you are able to fabricate your own happiness.
By focusing on choosing thoughts of gratitude and positivity, you are actively changing the balance of hormones in your brain and your body. It’s a simple enough shift of attitude and gives you an instant boost of happiness. Also, you are reducing the stress hormones that make you feel anxious and depressed, without the side effects of medication. Here’s more info on how your thoughts impact your brain plasticity.
Less Stress Hormones
Our body releases stress hormones whenever we get frightened or anxious. This is a good thing when you need to react quickly in an emergency situation. For example, if a reckless driver almost causes you to crash, these hormones helps raise your attention and react quickly to defend yourself. Stress hormones allow you to have a quick fight or flight response. However, when these feelings of stress extend for a period of time longer than necessary to react to danger, these hormones can be harmful to your health. Like for example when you are stressed over the argument you had with a family member last week. Or that you didn’t get the raise you thought you deserved.
Stress hormones contribute to weight gain, depression, anxiety, and heart disease. If you were wondering what you could do to reduce the negative impact these hormones have on your health, you will be glad to know that establishing a gratitude practice can help, as well as practicing positive affirmations. This won’t change the fact that there are things in your life that are not the way you want them to be or that bring you sadness, stress and frustration. But it will open pathways for things to change for the better.
The Truth About Happiness
The important lesson is to shift your focus to the things that are going well. Even if these things are small, or you usually take them for granted, like a cold drink when you’re thirsty. When you choose to focus on the positive, you will be bringing about feelings of happiness and doing wonders for your mental and physical health. Simple as that.
If you are not used to practicing gratitude or need some help getting started, grab our free Gratitude Journal. It has prompts that will help shift your thought process to one of gratitude. Establish a daily routine and watch how it impacts your life positively. When we have a lifetime of focusing on the negative, it is not easy to get out of that habit. It will take a conscious effort, but it will be so worth it!
Mindset is Nothing Without Action
Besides working on gratitude and positive mindset, the fact is that happiness is a practice. You don’t expect it to show up, you produce it by your thoughts and actions. As Jim Rohn explains in his talk below, happiness is an art, and if you are interested, you can study the art of weaving your own happiness:
Don’t wait for happiness to happen to you or put a condition on it. Make it happen through your daily choices. Be happy with what you have even if you haven’t yet achieved what you want. It’s not an easy choice, but everyone has good things in their lives. What are ten things you could list right now that you are grateful for? What things could you do right now for yourself that would make you happy? What experiences could you create?
Don’t wait for happiness to happen to you. It is available for everyone at any point in their lives. Choose happiness today. Right now. And use the power of gratitude and positive thinking practices to help you get there.