***** Positive Thinking, Happy Living

I will always remember Stella. Elderly, blind and living alone, one might think she should have spun long tales of hardship and misery. And I sup­pose she could have told such stories, but she made little room in her life for self-pity. She might have mentioned the deaths of friends and family, including her husband; the glaucoma that finally claimed her eyesight; the small pension on which she was forced to subsist and the arthritis that kept her home­bound in a little trailer house. And nobody could blame her had she de­spaired that she had grown so dependent on others.

Many people have been saying that this era is different and that we have more to worry about than past generations. While it is true that we have major concerns that are unique to us at this time, past generations also had their share of unique challenges. No matter what our challenges are, the decisions and choices we make on a day to day basis determine our ability to be happy. Happiness is a choice and is not dependent on future events and circumstances. Now is the perfect time to be happy.

A sign in a pet store read, "If anybody has seen the Bluebird of Happiness, would you please notify this pet store?"

Ever notice how some people just seem to be able to be content and bounce back no matter what the circumstances? Research shows that this isn't a gift
or a talent - it's, a skill that they have developed. Surprised? Well, the real surprise is that you too can put to work their techniques and make your life
happier too.

1. Happy people cooperate with life.

Often our view on what is important in life changes when our situation becomes different. Money comes more into focus when our job security is threatened. We are reminded of the importance of good health when we hear that someone we know has become seriously unwell.

Let's look at the things in life that are important:

Happy people are found taking their children or grandchildren to the park. You’ll see them pushing the kids on the swings, and kicking a football back and forward.

You’ll find happy people with their family, preparing a picnic lunch by the lake, and throwing bread to the ducks and geese.

You’ll see happy people every day working in their garden, enjoying the satisfaction of creating a miracle of colour and fragrance.

Have you ever been really happy? Have you ever tasted the fruit of pure happiness? Have you ever completed a task with that feeling of YES! I gave it my all. I’m really happy and proud with what I’ve done. Have you ever had that inner glow and outer radiation?

But was it happiness?

What is the purpose of your life? Working, eating and sleeping is no life. There must be some good purpose and some noble cause of your living. If you are living without a purpose then, I am sorry to say, you are living the life of an animal.

What do you want to do for yourself and for others? What do you want to achieve in your life? What do you want to tell others and to yourself? Why you are here in this world? Get up, open your eyes, look straight in the mirror and tell to yourself the real purpose of your own life, loudly and clearly.

There is an abundance of all the good in life and this abundance is absolutely fairly distributed. You can become involved in the abundance whenever you want. It lays straight in front of your feet just for you to take your share of it. If you don´t feel yourself being involved in the abundance it is only your limited understanding that makes this so.

The purpose of life is to be happy - so says the Dalai Lama. Jesus Christ said something similar when he said that he came so that 'you might have life and have it to the full'. Unfortunately, however, having worked in the field of personal development for more than fourteen years, I have come to the conclusion that most people aren't really quite sure what happiness actually means. And, perhaps, happiness has been confused with self gratification or pleasure. So what does happiness actually mean?