Unhappiness Happens - Gratitude Journal #14

I'm generally an optimistic person, but there are times in my life when I forget what it means to be happy.  As a child, I found happiness in the most random places,  "Mom, check this out- what a cool looking bug!"  As an adult I may be more likely to say, "Ack!  A bug!  Kill it!"  When did that innocent delight in the smallest oddity turn into disgust?

While wisdom brings lessons of being safer and protecting ourselves from danger, we must be careful not to squash our inner child.  

I fully admit to regularly pulling the sarcasm card and being very jaded by things like celebrity, expensive toys, and even the hype that comes with the neighborhood I'm currently living in.  However, if I'm too cynical, and if I forget to appreciate or take delight in the small things, than nothing becomes satisfying anymore, and I become unhappy about everything and anything.  This is why, even if we have everything we want, we can still be incredibly unhappy.  I was there once, and it really sucked to have everything I wanted and still be deeply unsatisfied, because at that point, there's no where else to go but down.

Happiness doesn't exist in the ownership of luxury items, and happiness isn't something that happens after you've obtained a college degree, the next level in your career, the first child in your family, a bigger home, that purse you've been wanting, or a new puppy.  Happiness is a choice and a decision.  It's a feeling that you cultivate or squash with every thought.  Expressing judgement, sarcasm, anger, hate, fear- all of these feelings will squash happiness in an instant.  While expressing gratitude, generosity, empathy, hope, and love will all lead to greater happiness, almost instantly.

Unconditional happiness means not putting off your happiness or expecting it to happen at some other point in time.  Not waiting on someone or something else to happen before you decide you'll finally be happy.

Happiness is a choice to love everything as it is right now.  

Happiness is wanting what you already have.  It's recognizing that you are in control of what you say yes to and what you choose to surround yourself with.  It's an acknowledgment that you are enough, just as you are right now.  It's a realization that this part of your journey, no matter how difficult, is just as rich, meaningful, and full of abundance as any other part of your past or future.

If we refuse to be unhappy, regardless of our circumstance, we become creative about ways we can make our self happy no matter where we are.

I am grateful for the times when I have forgotten how to feel happy, because it helps me know that something is out of balance in how I'm perceiving the world at large.  Once I can recognize that I'm being unhappy, it's my reminder that I'm forgetting to be grateful, generous, empathetic, hopeful, and loving.  Unhappiness is my reminder to nurture my inner child by taking delight in the smallest things and finding ways to have fun right here and now without the need for anything else to change.  When I can recognize that I'm being unhappy, than I can remember what I need to do to get back to that place of unconditional happiness.  Sharing this gratitude journal with you is just one of the things that helps remind me of what happiness is- openness and kindness with myself and the world at large- and if you have a gratitude journal, I'd love to read yours as well!

{If you appreciated this post, please join me in my journey to have a greater positive impact on the world by writing YOUR OWN GRATITUDE JOURNAL and sharing it or a link to it in the comments below. I would love to read your moments of gratitude and share them with others!}