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How high does happiness rank on your list of important things? Do you believe you deserve to be happy? Have you received your share of happiness, or are you still waiting for it to show up?
Many people wait their whole life for happiness, and frankly they feel a bit gypped when they see others getting more than their fair share. These people don’t realize that happiness has shown up millions of times along their journey, but they never stopped to pick it up.
How do you make sure that you find happiness and scoop it up instead of passing it by? The first step is to be aware. Open your eyes and ears. Pay attention. Joy can be found just about anywhere. It pops up even in some of the most horrible situations. But you have to be looking for it.
Your assignment today is to look for happiness. Actually, don’t just look for it as if you were looking for a pair of socks or a lost paper clip. Hunt for it like you are on a safari to find a hidden treasure. Seek out happiness. Find the things that bring you joy, and do them. You don’t have to endure a long series of hardships in order to become a success. Part of reaching success has to do with hard work, but no one said it had to be devoid of joy. Happiness is necessary for success, so go out and cultivate it in your life.
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Do you really want to get a kick out of life? Then achieve the unattainable. You will receive a huge amount of satisfaction if you attempt the impossible. Work against the odds. You’ve got nothing to lose, and imagine what you have to gain if you beat them.
Think about the great inventors in history. Just about every one of them was told, “You can’t do that!”
They responded with, “Why not?” and kept going anyway.
Adopt an inventor’s attitude and find pleasure in doing what people say you cannot do. If you practice that one small change in attitude, you may be very surprised at what happens in your life. Can you imagine the unseen doors that might open?
Have you had any experiences in the past where people told you that you were not capable of doing something? They probably used words like “impossible,” “not good enough,” and “crazy” to put you in your place. How did you react? How did their words make you feel? Write in your journal about a few of those experiences if you can recall them.
Now is your chance to get even. No one can tell you what you cannot do. You know for a fact that you are the only one on earth who truly knows the power you hold within you. Ignore the naysayers and get to work. It’s fun to prove them wrong! Pick up some joy when you mentally thumb your nose at the critics and go ahead and achieve your dreams in spite of their misgivings. Make them jealous. When you attempt things people say you cannot do, you are cultivating success.
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Mistakes people made in the past are heavy burdens that they often continue to carry with them for no apparent reason. They hold on to things that they regret and assume those things define them. The truth is that your past is not that powerful.
Karrie could have easily been characterized as a “mean girl” in high school. She only associated with the most popular students, and she often put down the teens that she considered to be nerds or geeks. She maliciously ruined the reputations of girls who didn’t deserve it just because she considered them the competition, and she carried on as if she had no regrets.
The mistakes of her past caught up to Karrie. When she grew up a little, she realized that she didn’t like the person she was in high school. Karrie wanted to change, but she felt as though her past defined her. She was a “mean girl,” and that was it. Karrie continued to treat people poorly as an adult, because she couldn’t let go of her high school image.
Your past is very useful as a teacher, but that’s it. You are not your past. You have the opportunity to be anybody you want to be from this point forward. If you want to be kind, all you have to do is change your actions. Leave the past behind. Drop that heavy burden, and step into your true potential.
