Happiness

I am a fan of a site called Thought Questions. Their tagline asking the right questions is the answer resonates with me. The reason I spend a great deal of time on this blog is that I find the questions help me to home in on my issues. They sometimes ask me things I never thought to ask myself.

I ran across this question earlier today and it made me pause. When I think of something stealing my happiness I normally think of it as a one-off type thing. As in, something happens I’m not happy about it then life goes on. But what if I don’t really move on. What I mean is that often times I linger in the situation, both mentally and emotionally. I don’t sleep at night analyzing my reaction, responses, all the what if’s. I drag my negative emotions from the situation around with me for a long time afterwards.

The challenge for me is letting go. I realize that the past cannot be changed. I understand that I must learn the lessons and grow with that knowledge. What I cannot seem to do is allow myself to find the positive aspects of the situation. The longer I dwell on a situation the more negative it becomes. I focus on the bad even if the outcome was good.

True Confession Time:

I very rarely look for happiness in my life. Oh don’t get me wrong there are plenty of times when I am genuinely smiling or laughing.  I enjoy spending quality time with friends and family.  What I mean is that you will never hear me describe my life as a happy one. I wouldn’t use that word to describe myself either. So the answer to the question posed above is: No situation has been stealing my happiness, what’s been stealing my happiness is ME.