Your happiness is very precious; it may be the most important gift you have been given.  And yet I would wager that you are giving much of it away.  I do.  We all do.

Do you have a boss that makes you mad?  Is there a toxic person in your life who makes you depressed or causes you to seethe with anger and frustration?  Do you stress out over the idiot drivers on the roads?  You are handing your happiness over to them; just giving it away as if it were nothing.

Are you drug down by the burdens of daily life; of making ends meet?  Are you depressed by illness or disease?  Are you tired of obligations and commitments?  Do you whine that you don’t have time to do what you want?  You are giving away your happiness to circumstances; throwing it in the trash can of an imagined difficult life.

You Have a Choice

I do not believe that the universe has a plan for me and I’m not into Pollyanna positive thinking.  However things are and for whatever reason they are the way they are, you can simply accept them as a given at that moment.  Who cares how they got that way?  Just because they aren’t the way you think they should be, doesn’t mean you should flush your happiness birthright down the toilet.

Often, way too often, I find myself giving away my happiness to others or to the situation I find myself in.  When I realize that and resolve to take it back, I find my life immeasurably improved.  With absolutely no change in external circumstances, I have changed my reality and made my life a whole lot better.  It’s really that easy.

The hard part seems to be that giving away your happiness tends to be the default mode most people operate under.  It’s a very difficult habit to break.  I find that automatically reminding myself with calendar appointments that send an alarm or by hanging up signs work very well.  I’m going to hang a sign that says

Hold On to Your Happiness and Never Ever Give it Away

in as many places as I can think of, as a constant reminder to take back that which is mine by right.  What about you?  Are you going to resolve to hold onto your happiness or are you going to foolishly give it away?

What do YOU think?  Leave a comment and join the conversation.