Every Monday I get a “Monday motivator” tip from Bob Molle, former Olympic medalist and Grey Cup winner.
This Monday’s tip reinforced a theme I have previously blogged about, and feel strongly about.
Here it is in its entirety:
So many times I have heard people say “I’ll be happy when I lose some weight.” “I’ll be happy when I retire.” “I’ll be happy when I get married.” “I’ll be happy when I get a place of my own.”
What about being happy now? Happiness is an emotion. If you reach for thoughts that make you feel happy, you can be happy right now! When you focus your attention on feeling happy now, the rest falls into place, and you find yourself attracting new things into your life.
I totally agree with Bob, but would go one step further. Happiness, I think, is more than an emotion; it is a decision. Circumstances reinforce the emotions that happiness brings. But are they necessary to create positive attitudes? I think not.
We decide to be happy by identifying the positives in life and deciding to focus on them.
Everyone has good and bad experiences hit them every day. Some people are happy regardless of those experiences; some seem to never be happy regardless of them.
A dear friend of mine recently informed me that he’d been diagnosed with a terminal illness and has a limited time left to live. But he was not morbid about it. The first thing he said was that he was so thankful that the illness would not affect his mind; he should retain clarity to the end despite the illness. Then he recounted how happy he was about recent decisions that had been perfectly timed, given these new circumstances, even though he then had no idea of his impending diagnosis.
He’s happy because he’s decided to be happy.
A successful business coach told us part of his morning ritual is to spend a little time every morning contemplating the things he is grateful for. It sets the tone for the day. And, I can’t help but think that little exercise alone would help us to bring a happier perspective to our lives.
The bottom line: we choose our outlook on life. If we do not choose to be happy, then the circumstances around us won’t make us happy either. If we choose to be happy, the positives in life will reinforce that emotionally and the negatives won’t derail us.
At least, that’s how I see it.
Rent 2 Own tip:
When considering rent to own, make sure that the rent to own provider includes a credit coaching component. It is critical to helping you get qualified for a mortgage at the end of the term. If the provider does not offer a complete program to help you get to mortgageable status, your risk of failure in the end is greatly heightened. If you don’t sense that the provider is in it to help you but just themselves, find another provider with better motives.
Quote of the Week:
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
