Happiness in Every Bottle

As we were going to Oregon for Thanksgiving, we stopped at Raleys to get something to drink and there it was, a funky looking bottle called Neuro Bliss with the tagline "Happiness in Every Bottle" (check it out http://drinkneuro.com/). Needless is to say that after seeing this, I had to try it! Yes, a type of lemonade that promises happiness and joy... As I was drinking a bottle of Neuro Bliss, I couldn't help but think how much of our happiness depends on external factors. This was another way to placing the focus of our happiness outside ourselves. Many time, people say that they will be happy when they have a house, or a car, or a child, or the perfect job. It's like we are always waiting for some external force to bring us happiness instead of realizing that happiness comes from within and that we can choose to be happy now.

In her book, Happiness for No Reason, Marci Shimoff explains how we should avoid placing the source of our happiness in things that are outside ourselves and just focus on being happy for no reason, just choosing to be happy. Sometimes people are unhappy because they believe that they need to be a certain way or have the mandate from society or their parents to be a certain way. Not being able to achieve these standards usually leads to frustration and unhappiness and that's when we shift and start believing that we will be happier when... you can name it, always an external force that will bring us happiness.

First, we need to realize that we can choose to be happy as we can choose to be sad and it is within our power to choose how we want to feel. Second, we need to realize that some of our dreams are not actually our dreams but placed there by society, family values and traditions but we choose to be different. We are not numbers and we have a choice so don't give your power to choose away just to follow the mandates from others. Question whether what you are pursuing is really your dream or whether it is somebody else's dream. If you find out it is indeed your dream, keep going. But if you happen to see that this dream does not belong to you, you can choose to let that go and start living your dreams. Don't wait for external forces to make you happy because in doing so you may waste your life waiting for this or that to happen. Instead, choose to be happy for no reason, let your happiness come from within and enjoy following your dreams.

Blessings )0(