Thought for the Day Happiness is a....

[Paul Whybrow]

Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.

Ralph Marston

 

[Hannah F]

Depends. If you're a compulsive optimist, happiness can be a reflexive reaction to a situation. Sometimes you just can't help being happy.

 

[Claire G]

Bull

 

[LJ Beck]

"Choosing" happiness can also be fooling yourself, or turning a blind eye to reality. That can result in all kinds of issues, physical and mental, to you and those around you. Happiness is complicated. It's an emotion like being in love. Results from feelings, not choices.

My mother "choose" to be happy. She achieved it maybe 90% of the time. She did not live in reality. She did not work through troublesome issues, but instead moved on from them. That included marriages, people, and places. She gathered people to her that would keep her happy fantasy alive. Some would say she lived a successful, happy life. It's not one I would ever choose.

I prefer to find ways to be content. I think that is something we can choose. It's truer and more lasting.