As I have said for years, happiness is a state of mind. God has given us the power of choice and it is with that power that you can choose happiness, worry or fear. That is why there is a phrase in the Bible that says, Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. You have the freedom to choose happiness. This may appear extraordinarily simple to you, and guess what, it is. This is largely the reason why soooo many fall short on their way to happiness; they don’t see the simplicity of the key to happiness. The things in life that are great are simple, dynamic, and creative. They are that which produce well-being and happiness in all of us.
St. Paul revealed the formula on how you can think your way into a life of dynamic power and continual happiness in these words:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
 (King James Bible, Philippians 4:8)
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If this is the case, then…
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Why Choose Unhappiness?!
Believe it or not, many choose unhappiness without realizing that they are doing so. This is done by entertaining thoughts and ideas like the following:
- Today is a black day; everything is going to go wrong.
- I am not going to succeed.
- Everyone is against me.
- Business is bad, and it is going to get worse.
- I’m always late.
- I never get the breaks.
- He can, but I can’t.
If this is where your head is at when you start your day, you will most certainly attract ALL these experiences to you, and congratulations, you accomplished being unhappy. Takes effort.
You must realize that the world you live in is really determined largely by what goes on in your mind. Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman philosopher and sage, said,
A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
The leading American philosopher of the nineteenth century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said,
A man is what he thinks all day long.
The very thoughts that you have a habit of entertaining in your head continually have a STRONG tendency to actualize themselves into physical conditions.
The solution… STOP IT! Just STOP indulging in negative, defeatist, unkind, or depressing thoughts. Keep at the forefront of your thinking the truth that you can experience nothing outside your own mentality.
There are no blocks to your happiness save in your own thought life and mental imagery. Are fear or worry holding you back from something? Fear is nothing more than a thought in your mind. You can dig it up in this very moment by supplanting it with FAITH in success, achievement, and victory over all problems.
The happiest person is the one who constantly brings forth in the way of actions what is best in him or herself. Happiness is a complement to virtue. The best and happiest are masters in the art of living. God is the highest, and the greatest power in you. Express more of God’s love, light, glory, truth, and beauty, and you will become one of the happiest in the world. Have trouble believing this? At the risk of sounding like I am tooting my own horn, I can tell you first hand that I have been characterized by many people as the happiest guy they know. It’s not a front, I am not trying to fool anybody. I am just this way because I practice exactly what I am sharing with you here. As I am trying to illustrate, there is nothing special, or difficult about this. It is simply an exercise of your God given freedom of choose happiness over unhappiness. To end off, you can take the words of Epictetus, the Greek Stonic philospher to heart and start on the path of happiness NOW:
These is but one way to tranquility of mind and happiness; let this, therefore, be always ready at hand with thee, both when thou wakest early in the morning, and all the day long, and when thou goest late to sleep, to account no external things thine own, but commit all these to God.
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