Happiness, A State of Mind

The human mind is a wonderful, and sometimes vicious, part of who we are.  When it comes to happiness, our mind can either be a friend or foe, depending on what we allow it to become.  I have seen friends dig too deep into the actions of others, ruminate excessively about their everyday lives and what they mean, and create a world for themselves in which it is almost impossible to be happy.  Yet I also have friends who view life as one great opportunity where anything is possible and their lives consequentially are filled with happiness.  So how do we attain happiness?  That could be one of the trickiest questions posed by anyone at anytime and depending on who you talk to, the answer could be vastly different from person to person.  To me, happiness is solely a state of mind that is not contingent upon anything physical or tactile.  Some people claim that happiness can be achieved through money and objects.  For most people reading this, this route to happiness is ill-conceived and fraught with despair.  How much would a person need to be happy?  There is no real answer that we can arrive at for everyone wants or "needs" a different amount to be happy.  I personally don't subscribe to this route to happiness.  I think I did when I was younger, but luckily I shed that idea and now look at happiness as something that we can create based upon how we look at the world. 

It is easy for us to look outside ourselves and see nothing but despair and negativity in the world.  The global economy seems to be faltering again, politicians are lying as usual, and people simply seem more vicious as a whole.  Yet can we claim that happiness is achievable by looking at the state of things outside of ourselves?  Perhaps, but only if we are involved in every facet of what is going on around us.  Simply because the economy is in the crapper doesn't mean that everyone is in the crapper and consequently depressed and anxious.   So where do we look for happiness?  To me, happiness resides in everyone (I know, a blanket statement that sounds vaguely hippyish) and can only be truly achieved by changing our state of mind and how we let outside influences affect us.  Everyone has a different point at which the outside world affects them.  For some, simply the news of stocks falling can be enough to send them into depression, yet that essentially suggests that happiness is dependent on money.  What we need to do is create filters for ourselves through which we can view the world, including our own lives, and find the positive aspects to create a sense of happiness.  The filters we need are ones that do not let our mind spin out of control when we hear bad news.  If we can teach ourselves to look at all the good in our lives, then happiness will be that much closer.  I know I make it sound so simple, "oh, just look at the world differently and you will be happy,"  but when you boil down what happiness is about, it really is that simple.  OK, maybe not so simple for some, but the idea itself is simple, the actions one takes to get there perhaps not so much.

I find myself dropping my filters every now and then, getting caught up in the vicious cycles that fluctuate around, and losing my own sense of happiness.  What I need to do when that happens is to step back, out of myself if you will, and consider what I have and what it means to me.  Would I like more money?  Absolutely, but it is not a variable that is necessary for me to be happy.  To me, my life is good, and for the most part, I am happy.  When I boil everything down, it doesn't take much to make me happy.  I have a wonderful family and great friends.  As long as I have those two integral pieces, it is hard for me to get depressed about anything else.  Does the fact that I have a job make happiness easier to hold on to?  Yes, but I feel that even if I didn't have a job, I would somehow create a sense of happiness for myself out of what I have.  It took me a long time to get to where I am today.  For quite a while I bought what society was feeding me, that I needed to be surrounded by money and objects to be happy.  Well, that's not the case as I found out.  I have plenty of "objects" if you will, but they do not inherently make me happy.  I only hope that more people could see the truth about being happy and that it doesn't take worldly things to get them there.  All people need to do is to be thankful for what they have, love the ones around them, and happiness will come.  Its all about our minds and what we allow ourselves to think and feel.  We have control over our minds if only we can tap into it.  Today, seriously just be happy.  It may take some effort for people to reach that point, but it is worth it when you get there and you look around and life is good.  That is perhaps my favorite line and one that is not used often enough, "Life is Good."