You have a right and even a responsibility to be happy. Happiness is a state of mind. Many people let life pass them by because they choose to be unhappy. (Bet you are thinking, “Judi, people don’t choose to be unhappy. It just happens.) Wrong! People who sit around complaining, whining, worrying, procrastinating, and gossiping about other people instead of making the best of every day, are actually choosing to be miserable. They talk about the past and how it was “back when.” Some of them live in a state of “One time.” One time we did this and one time we did that and one time we went here, etc. People who think and talk mainly about the past don’t move forward. They are missing their ‘now.’ They don’t have a clue how difficult it is for other people to be around them. We’ve heard their stories at least a dozen times. These people don’t really have any concern for whether their stories are interesting to us or not, they are just talking so they can re-live their past experiences and re-experience the feeling of it.
Other people talk about “someday when.” Someday when I make a lot of money, meet the right person, my kids are out of school. But someday when never comes and there’s another someday when out there somewhere. I hope you aren’t one of these people. Projecting your life int the future is a way of avoiding the present…not taking responsibility for now.
This is very similar to the state of “if only.” “If only,” I were thin, had more money, a better education, and the ultimate”if only” I’d win the lottery.
Wishing and waiting are not powerful. They will not bring the changes you seek. “If only” you’d concentrate on what you can do today to take the steps toward what you want to be, do, and have, you’d be a lot happier. You’d be achieving and accomplishing what you want, and you’d be enjoying the journey as well. Whenever we spend too much time in the past or the future, life seems to slip by before we ever accomplish what we want….to be happy!
Are you focused in the NOW?
