What is happiness? For starters, happiness is a choice. Even during the toughest of times, we can choose to be happy. You can be sad and still experience happy thoughts and events. Happiness can be balanced with other emotions, but it is down to you to choose it.

Why do you want to be happy? Is it because you’re tired of feeling down and negative or maybe it’s because you look at people around you and think they are happier? The truth of people that are genuinely happy is that they have chosen to be that way – they have made a conscious decision to live each day in a happy way.

For me, I make my choice to be happy because I’ve realised and experienced the benefits of that mindset; and that’s all it is, a mindset. If I wake up and don’t make those conscious decisions to be grateful and happy, my day will be unproductive, messy and make me feel down. But if I exercise my power of choice and consciously decide to find the good in each day, starting with first thing in the morning, then I will start my day with a great mindset. I will know things are possible and the day will be rewarding.

So, what stops us? Why do we block our own happiness and sabotage our own lives? Mainly because our default is to not exercise this skill and to let ourselves be overwhelmed by everything going on in our lives.

Why not start your day with a little gratitude? Simply waking up, being alive and able to live another day is reason enough to be thankful and to celebrate. First thing each day, think about what possibilities lie ahead, not what overwhelms you. Train your brain to think in a more positive way. Adjust your mindset to be grateful for what you do have and what you could achieve, before worrying about what you don’t have or can’t do. 

This simple conscious decision could be the starting point of a whole new mindset for you, the one small step that will open you up to inviting more happiness and freedom into your life and the key to a whole new way of living. Stop sabotaging your own happiness and make a choice: a choice to be happy.

Want to know more? Check out Tabby’s book “The Three Ps: Possibility, Productivity & Performance”