HAPPY FOR NO REASON

Each morning at my workplace we hold devotions.  This morning it was my turn to lead and I covered a topic that people are always "feeling" about (verses thinking or talking about).  The topic of "happiness".  I read from a book called Happy For No Reason by M. Shimoff.

Even though I am only in the first two chapters I find myself wanting to go back to page one so that I won't forget what was said.  The book is that powerful... or I am just not that happy!  Two people today said that they think I am a "happy for no reason" person; which is interesting to me because I don't think that about myself.

The book talks about our happiness levels. Based on studies done said that people gain about 50% of one's level of happiness comes from genetics, 10% of what we own or have in our possession (job, car, house, money, etc.) and then 40% comes from our thoughts and perceptions. 

Thoughts and perceptions seem easy to change yet people do not choose to actively change their thought patterns and thus changing their attitude ... that leads to happiness!

Strangely enough one of my friends at work wrote in his blog about joy and what does it mean to joyful or find joy, so this morning when he heard the devotion, it led us to talk more about this idea of authentic happiness and what that means for our lives.  His blog focused on a lot of what I had already been thinking about happiness and how people orchestrate moments of joy in their life by buying things, searching for "funny YouTube videos", or getting to know people at work who are friendly and validate us and thus make us happy.

What happens when the things we put around us or the people we put around us go away?!  This thought even further defines the idea of "happy for no reason" when you think that this happiness has to dwell within you... because of you.

In the book there is a story about a woman who lost their sight after using some over-the-counter eye drops.  The stories talks about how she lost her vision within one hour of her using the drops.  She describes how she spent the first year in bed and rejecting any people who may come to comfort her.  After a year of not experiencing much joy in her life she decided that she needed to do something about her life.  She got connected with an organization that provided Seeing Eye dogs.  After some workshops and some practice the women found herself living more independently and regaining her interests in the things she liked in the past.  The author of the story ends by saying, "Although I lost my sight, my vision has become greater."

When I was reading this women's full story, all I could do was cry.  The story was so motivating and yet sad at the same time.  I think it is sad that something as critical as sight would have to be removed for one to find true happiness and yet the gumption that the women demonstrated made me look at my life and examine the areas that I am sitting around, too scared to make a call and challenge myself -- in fear of the "what if's".

I challenge all of my readers to find joy in their every day ins and outs and to work on changing the habits, people, thoughts, etc that create any discontent in your head or heart (or both).

Happiness is at the top of my list of things I want to "be" when I grow up!  What do you want to be?

Today I am... workings towards being happy for no reason.