What is the secret to being happy? Does happiness lie in the attainment of physical things such as wealth, strong relationships, good health, mental fortitude etc.? I think you already know that happiness does not lie in the attainment of anything physical. So what is happiness?

If you wish to fully understand what the state of happiness is then you must first understand what it is not! We all know that the rich are no happier than the ordinary worker. If happiness lay in the arms of another person then all we would have to do is find a partner and settle down to spend the rest of our lives deliriously happy. The world is full of stories about people who have gone from nothing to achieve their dreams only to become disillusioned with their attainments. A great many become despondent and even suicidal. So if happiness does not lie in material possessions or the arms of another or even in the attainment of our dreams where does it lie?

Well when you seek your dreams, material possessions, or even another person in order to be happy what are you really looking for. Is it the thing itself that you think will make you happy or the feeling you will get when you have the thing? Ponder that for a moment!

When something happens in your life it is not the event itself that makes you happy or unhappy it is how you perceive it that creates the inner change. How you view the event and how you think it affects you and your life is really all that there is in the situation.

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so", with these words, from Hamlet, Shakespeare describes at its essence a rarely acknowledged truth and sums up my previous statement. You are the one who puts a meaning to any event. You place that event in your life and decide whether it is good or bad depending on how you perceive it.

Two people can experience the same event but have very different views of it. The people who achieve great things in life hold the view that "everything happens for a reason". Behind every adversity there is a chance to start anew and gain valuable insight from what has happened.

Happiness truly lies within. You can actually decide to be happy. Let's take some time to do a short experiment. In a relaxed state recall all the things that you now have to be grateful for. Feel the gratitude for them as you do this. No matter how small practise a little gratitude now and do this for a few minutes. When you have finished continue reading.

Now do you feel better than before or worse? Of course you feel better. Gratitude is the starting point for happiness. By appreciating all those things that you already have you alter your perception. You also tend to attract more of them into your life. When you focus on things in your life and world that make you unhappy then you will teach your mind to look for things that make you unhappy. Eventually your entire outlook will be negative and you will also attract more things to make you feel unhappy.

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