Happy is a habit

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By now you have probably all heard about Tiger Woods and his practice of visualizing the ball and the golf course before he played as a strategy for his success. Many coaches teach athletes this tactic. Imaginary free throws to the basket, crossing the finish line. This is a strategy that can be applied to any area in our lives that we are hoping to improve upon. For example, imagining yourself happy right now is a habit that will, well, make you happy right now. Deepak Chopra spoke here in Sebastian, Florida more than once. He is a gifted speaker and shares many fascinating stories that illustrate the power of positive thought. One quote from one of his talks is especially powerful, however. He said "Be happy like a baby is happy--over nothing. Be happy over nothing because happiness over something is just another form of misery." Simple yet profound, this truth is one of those things that makes you realize how truly easy life could be if you just embraced it. All things come to end; vacations, jobs, cars, clothes, the list goes on and on. But if we are willing to just be happy over nothing, we could, quite literally, be happy all the time.

Getting back to Tiger Woods. If we could habitually think about what we want, visualizing the things that make us feel the happiest rather than waiting for things to happen to make us happy e.g. this relationship, this job, etc. we could have happiness at our fingertips all the time. The teachings of Abraham-Hicks tell us to "reach for the happier thought". When you are stuck in line at the airport, reach for the happier thought. When you are emptying your checking account to pay the bills, reach for the happier thought. It may sound corny and oversimplified but it is, if nothing else, true. Negativity certainly does not serve us and it absolutely is not what we want to model for children.

It takes 28 days to develop a habit. That's why people go to rehab for 28 days, to build the new habits into their lives that will help them heal and be able to function better. If you begin today to reach for that happier thought you may possibly be a happier person in 28 days. Psychiatrists and spiritualists basically say the same thing: turn off the tapes you play in your head that no longer serve you. What is most important, though, is that you must replace those thoughts with something else because our minds are going to think anyway. This is where reaching for that happier thought comes into play. Maybe thoughts of singing in church are the happiest for you or sitting on the beach in Hawaii. Regardless of what you choose to think remember that you can control that run away train of negativity in your head. Take control and begin to build the happy habit. You could be smiling in 28 days.