We often find ourselves searching for happiness, for personal fulfilment, and that something, or someone that will lead to the illusive “happily ever after”.
As a child I though I would grow up, get married, have babies and a job I loved, and I would of course then live happily ever after. In many ways I have ticked off my check list.
- Husband I adore. Tick
- Children. Tick (maybe not the 6, including twins I wanted lol)
- Job I enjoy. Tick.
Am I happy? Yes I am, but the idea of happy I had in mind looks different to the ‘happy’ I am living. I live with happiness everyday, I am so grateful for all the amazing people and possessions in my life. But there is no such thing as ‘happily ever after’, because bad things still happen all the time too. To live a life without any heartache, pain, sadness, or worries is just not possible. We have this idea that once we get the job we want, or have lots of money, that all our problems somehow magically melt away. But that is an illusion. Problems evolve, they shift. It is the way we view life and our problems that has a bigger impact on our happiness than the problem itself.
Being grateful for what we have, instead of constantly looking for extra things to make us happy, is key to finding actual happiness. We will never be free of all problems, the problems we have today may go away or shift, but new problems always arise. We can not live in a perfect world. What we can do is adjust how we look at the world, and our attitude to the problems we face. We have the power to change the way we see our world. When we adjust our attitude to one of gratefulness, we change our perception of the problems we face.
Do you agree? Do you have any opinions on this topic? If you do please share them with me in the comment section, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for joining me, love Mac xx
20 comments
There’s a quote I’d read somewhere that said ‘Happiness is an inside job’ and I so concur with it. The situations we are in are only partly responsible for how happy or sad we are.
oh I love that quote
So true. Our minds are so powerful. If we want to change anything in our lives, we need to change our perceptions first.
Absolutely! Thanks so much for commenting x
I loved ur post and truly agree Happiness is our Inner Self ..our perception towards life n people we meet ….;)
I completely agree xx
Cognitive behavioural therapy is all about that— it’s not the situations that make us feel a certain way but the manner in which we perceive it. Having said that, even though I’m well-versed with CBT, I forget to use it on a daily basis! 😛
I know what you mean I find such a void between what I know intellectually and then applying to real life sometimes. When emotion and insecurity are involved it can be hard sometimes. Take care lovely and thanks for commenting xx
This is true I think. We’re very focused on “happiness” but being happy all the time is impossible. Being content with what you have and grateful for what you’ve been given is a better place to be. Another fabulous post 🙂 Have a great week
Thank you lovely x
We evolve with time, happiness and problems are two terms whose definitions keep changing with time. Problem which was 5 Years ago may sound so trivial now, what was happiness 5 years ago may now mean nothing. Understanding that life is short and to be lived to its fullest may help. Beautifully put across the whole concept.
Absolutely! When we are happy with our ‘lot’ and not forever striving or even wishing for more, we are more content, our mind shifts and with it our perception. We might perceive that someone else is happy, we might even wish we had what they have in their life. But we only see their life through the opaque glass and actually, we wouldn’t want their life anyway. And we can’t live without opposites. Otherwise we wouldn’t know what happiness or sadness means. thanks for hosting #mg
it is easy to perceive other’s as so much happier than us, but everyone has their problems, they just differ.
#Candidcuddles ohh i love this, science has proven that your happiness increase the more gratitude you show AND for those that are less happy to begin with this can sky rocket their happiness levels!
I really believe that gratitude and a pinch of living in the now are key ingredients to happy shimmers of life. love this – thanks for a lovely reminder
oh thank you, what a lovely comment. I love how you say happy shimmers of life
This makes SO much sense to me!! Earlier this year Gaz and I went through a really difficult patch and I felt as though our marriage was in trouble, it’s only now that I am able to look back and realise that I wasn’t happy with our marriage, I was just unhappy with myself. I love this post Mac, it really made me see things differently! #mg
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Laura. I agree I find when I am really unhappy with myself that I see problems elsewhere in my life. We can be way to hard on ourselves. Sending hugs xx
I’ve been in need of an attitude adjustment of late. This post helped push me over the fence onto the sunny side of the street. Thanks, Mac. Our mind is a very powerful tool. <3 #livingfearlesslyauthentic #mg <3
It drives me mad that stories often end with a wedding and “living happily ever after” – it does give that perception that once we have x, y and z in our lives we will have happiness forevermore. Life just doesn’t work that way – everyone has moments of intense sadness and heartache but happiness is more than a feeling, sometimes it is a choice we make when we accept a situation and try to look at the positives. #candidcuddles
A few of these things I feel I can happily tick but I’ve never found a job were people appreciate me. #mg
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