Embrace Happiness…Forget Your Stress and Sadness

Sometimes all you need is a little change in your perspective and then suddenly things will get better. I keep saying this because it is true, heck I have even written about changing your perspective before because it is so important. Embracing happiness is sometimes really hard to do, especially when you are stressed out or just plain sad. It is something that even I continue remind myself to do on a daily basis. And to be honest some days are harder than others. What do I mean by “embracing happiness”? Do I mean “Hey I’m happy right now I should give myself a hug”? No, not at all. I mean if that is your thing go ahead, give yourself a big bear hug 🙂 But what I mean is looking at the bright side, or as some say count your blessings.

It is so easy to look at the things other people have and get a little jealous or sad because you do not have them. It doesn’t just stop at material things either, you could be looking through a magazine and find that suddenly you are hating yourself for not being able to fit in those size -0 pants. Yes I put a negative  in front of the zero, that wasn’t a typo. Negative body image is something that many of us deal with. It is the cause for some causes of depression or stress for some people and we need to stop giving into it…but that is another post for another day. Whatever your trigger is you need to realize that it is not the end all in your mood. When these negative thoughts start to creep in take a deep breath and pause. Stop  those negative thoughts about what you lack and take the opportunity to be thankful for what you have.

So you don’t have a million dollars…but you have: a loving family, or an adorable pet who adores you, or hey you just bought those really pretty curtains that make your room seem brighter.  If you start to think about the things that are good in your life, all the negative things will just go away. Remind yourself of all the good things. If it helps, create a happiness board where you put pictures of things and people that make you happy or things that you are grateful for. At work I have pictures of my family, inspirational quotes, and this picture of a cute baby sloth looking at me from my computer monitor. It is really hard to get upset when you have constant reminders of the things that bring you joy.

It will take time for you to get used to doing it, but once you embrace the happy things in life you will see the change. You will notice that you are generally happier and that the little things no longer bother you. There are so many positive things that you can find in your life. Find your happy place, your zen, your “I don’t care, I rock attitude”. Just focus on those things that make you happy, and realize that there are better things to focus on. Forget about the things you think you lack and realize that there are so many wonderful things that you have.

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