Happiness is a choice...

The happiest people in the world do not always have the best of everything. They are the people who make the best out of everything that they have. Life indeed is a constant struggle. There are times that we triumph amidst adversities while at times we may sulk in defeat. Sometimes we feel like we are on a pedestal, while there are also times when we are in deep shit. These are some things that may happen to anyone of us which may leave us feeling helpless of the situation. Oftentimes, we forget that we actually have the ability to disallow these unwanted circumstances to rob us of the happiness that we may experience in our short-lived lives.

I dare say happiness is truly a choice and that we can choose to be happy if we really want to. In psychology, I’ve learned that the way we perceive something can greatly affect the way we feel towards it. Therefore, we can control our emotions by changing the way we think towards a certain object, person, place, or event. Taking a negative experience for example as a blessing in disguise can turn a negative situation into a positive light. Human as we are, we also unknowingly engage ourselves in social downward comparison with others. This is simply comparing ourselves to somebody who is less fortunate than us. It may be in terms of beauty, intelligence, or socio-economic status. Through this, it maximizes the positive aspects in our lives by maximizing the negative things in others and thus, making us to feel good about ourselves. Moreover, contentment is another key to being happy. Being contented with what we have can help us become more appreciative with the things that we already have. Discontentment would only lead us to a continuous hunger and thirst for something which would only rip our chance of being truly happy in life. Being happy is largely our decision. It may sound that easy, but sometimes it’s not. I guess it takes time to practice looking at undesirable things in a different angle. At times when I feel really down, I pull up my checklist to bring me back to my senses and to remind me that there is something that I can do to maintain a positive affect despite unfortunate events. After all, we can’t just be sad all the time. Let us keep in mind that our happiness mainly depends on us...