A Rose Colored State of Mind

Okay, I admit that this happiness thing has got me thinking. There are a whole multitude of factors involved. The ability/wherewithal/courage to control your own destiny. To be able to live fully. Honor yourself and your dreams. To be resilient in the face of adversity. And what else?

Your list may be very different from mine. So I asked, what are those factors are for me? Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely not rah-rah happy all the time (or even most of the time). But generally speaking, this life's journey has been pretty full and satisfying.

So that puts me back to resilience and attitude. I've had problems and setbacks. Desperate times when I just wanted to pack it in. But when it finally hits me that something's gotta change, that's when I get resourceful. I know no one's going to make it better but me.
So I stop the pity-party and just do it. Find a better way. And move on ~ with relief and a smile.

Gratitude is also a biggy for me. Even as a child, I wondered how I'd gotten to be so lucky. How come I got have a loving, stable home? Why wasn't I born in Africa, I'd ask, where all those other children suffered so much? I still ask myself those questions. I try to be conscious of my blessings and those of the really magnificently designed world around me. Even when I'm so caught up in myself that they're hard to see.

I'm seeing my pattern here. HOPEFULNESS. Knowing I (and only I), can steer my destiny - or at least go with it when it steers me. Knowing I'll always find a way out somehow. Knowing I've been blessed with some pretty incredible people and experiences. That's happiness. For me.

Again I ask: Are you a happy person? Why? What ingredients play a part in your personal happiness cocktail? And if you aren't, why not?