Happiness Is Not A Result

When we get an A at school, our parents will be happy, and we will do so.

When we win the Little League game [you can fill in any game here], we'll be happy.

When we will have a lot of money in the end, or not worry about money, we will be happy.

We will be happy when we get that new job.

We will be happy when we get married.

We will be happy when we get that new car.

I could go on, but I think you'll get the picture.

I call it "I'll be happy when the syndrome" and you know what that is, it's a myth.

Happiness is not the result of being, doing or being. Does this mean that all these things cannot make us happy? Of course not ... they can ... and that may be one reason that we start associating them with happiness. This is why, by the time we reach adulthood, we are convinced that happiness is the result of something happening, doing or being something.

But research shows otherwise.

Studies have shown that both those who suffer a tragic accident and become paraplexes, and those who win the lottery, usually return to the same level of happiness. There is something known as The Adaptation Principal that states that we adapt to whatever happens in our lives. When we can experience a fleeting "high" or extreme bliss, that happiness does not cease, as a result of something happening, attaining or attaining something. We finally reach our normal level of happiness again.

Research also shows that we are not good at guessing what will make us happy, or sad.

We expect good things to make us happy and bad things to make us sad, and this is often not the way to pan things. Think all the time that you have heard someone who has experienced tragedy, it is the best thing that has ever happened to them.

Research also states that only 10% of our happiness is the result of our circumstances, while 40% is due to our attitude towards those circumstances. Yes, this means that we can choose to be happy, and in fact, this choice is a significantly higher percentage of our happiness.

Happiness is a choice… not a result.

So why do so many people feel as if happiness eludes them? Why do so many people try, do, and believe more that they will be happier when they do? Why do so many people see others and wish that they could be happy if they did, if they did?

The answer is quite simple: to think. We are advised to seek success from childhood and strive more, it is with the underlying message that will make us happy. We are surrounded by messages throughout our lives that continually reinforce this conditioning in advertising, reality TV, social media, the personal development industry, and more.

It is time to claim our happiness.

We can do it right now, today, just as we are. To do this we do not need to do anything, do or do anything else. This is our birthright. We can choose to be happy right now, regardless of our circumstances, or we may be unhappy with what we do not have.