Happiness is a choice!

I sat down to write the post I promised yesterday-more about the food pyramid- and had a really hard time writing it. It is very interesting for me to research but coming together in an interesting way for a post was a little bit harder. I guess as I was writing it I was wondering if this would even be interesting to people! So I decided to move on from the food pyramid for now and if you really want more let me know. I will probably put more posts up in the future about it but not all in one week!
On to better things...
Lately I feel as though I have been a little bit like the people that are hard for me to be around.

You all know one or more...maybe you feel like you are one! The type of people that no matter what, their life is a disaster. We call them negative Nancy's! Nothing goes right for them, they are the only people that have problems in life. You have probably thought that YOU can see the GOOD in THEIR life..."Why cant they?" and YES its SO hard to be around these people.

At least I think so!
Hopefully, though, the negativeness that I feel coming from me isn't necessarily being heard by people out of my own home. (Poor {Hubby}). And I also hope that my negativeness has not been to the extreme that I am talking about! I do worry however, that even if I am not expressing it...I am radiating it. To realize this about my recent self makes me sad.

I have always consider myself a very happy, easy going person.

I believe I am generally the type of person that sees the cup half full!

So why this recent shift in my attitude?

I suppose I could come up with plenty of excuses. I suppose I could think of the things that are going wrong in my life and pop those out as excuses. I know any of us could do this...we all have things going wrong, right?
BUT
A few weeks ago I resolved that I was going to be happier. Radiate happiness like I believe I have once done! It is still an ongoing process but I believe I am getting there. This may be an ongoing process that we all work at for the rest of our lives!

This morning on Rachel Ray, Andrea T. Goeglein explained that Hapinness is a choice. (Simple enought-right?)! She explained that studies have shown that 50% of Happiness is Genetics BUT only 10% is because of life circumstances. The other 40% is what we do ourselves to be happy! She also said that how we react to the 10% that is out of our control, is up to us!

Dr. Goeglein then gave a few tips to get on track and be happier.
1. Replace BUT with AND
For example-Johnny did really well on his test but I wish he got a higher score so he got into the program.
We all learned in middle school that when you put But in a sentence you are completely disregarding the first part. She explains that by replacing the but and putting an AND in you are focusing on the positive. (MAKES PERFECT SENSE)
2. Smile more often- This one is pretty self explanitory to me!
3. Embrace gratitude- (OF COURSE)

In a talk given in October 2008 titled Finding "Joy in the Journey," Thomas S. Monson said,

"Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings. Said one well-known author: 'Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.' " (The well known author spoken of is Sarah Ban Breathnach)

So today…I am focusing on being conscience of the fact that HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE and always within my own reach!

*I would like to work on a goal a week and since I didn’t get started this week my goal for next week will be centered around this! More info given next Monday but I hope you will join me in the goal!