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Happiness... it means a lot of things to a lot of people.
To some it's having a good job. To others, going on a date with that special someone... But where does happiness really come from?
I have given this a lot of thought during the many years of my life, and what I have come to discover is that happiness comes from a completely different place than I originally thought.
I think back through my childhood in good ole Sandy, Utah when happiness meant buying an ice cream cone at the gas station or riding my bike to go play Super Mario Brothers at the local grocery store.
Then as I grew, happiness meant having money to buy new cassette tapes, or going out on a date with the latest girl that made my tummy do somersaults. On other days it was watching sports with my Dad, or camping in the mountains and fishing some little beaver ponds...
Bottom line is that "Happiness" seemed to come from a lot of places. I didn't really give it much thought until my life stopped being so 'busy', and I had (way too much) time to really consider where happiness came from.
Truth be told, I was forced to figure it out because there came a point after college where I wasn't so happy. I'd moved away from College to 'Live the California Dream' in the SF Bay area during the .COM explosion. But instead of turning out like I had envisioned (Picture me living by the beach with my Mercedes, and owning a cutting edge .COM company) I found myself in a strange new place, with no friends, an old pickup truck, and no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
It was then that I began to learn where happiness truly comes from...
I found that all I really had was 'ME', and if I was going to be 'Happy' then it had to come from somewhere inside. Now that might sound a little idealistic, or like a bunch of 'Hair Brained Non-Sense'; but I've found it to be true over and over during the course of my life.
Simply put, Happiness is a choice.
Each day we wake up and decide if we are going to be grateful for all of the incredible things that we DO have in our lives-- or we can be 'Grouchy Smurf' and look at how terrible things are, or focus on what we WISH we had in our lives.
Let me give you an example: Almost every one of us wishes that we had more money, right? Even the super-duper wealthy guy (you know the one), wishes he had more money. And nearly everyone has at least one person who loves them dearly-- it could be your Mom, Dad, Children, Spouse, etc. And most of us spend time being healthy for portions of our lives but also suffer some sort of major health issue along the journey, right?
The point to all of this is essentially that we are all in the same boat. We all have dreams, we all have fears, we all wish we were more like 'Joe Blow' or 'Jane Doe'. We are all the same... we just vary in degree.
So why are some people so happy and others feel that happiness is only something that happens in movies and fairy tales?
It's the choice you make inside...
Are you acknowleding the amazing life that you are able to live? Or are you focusing on all of the things that you (falsely) believe you need in order to be happy?
In the end, it's all up to you. Think about it and make your choice... It will make all the difference in how you see the world-- and the best part is that you control it-- 100%!
To some it's having a good job. To others, going on a date with that special someone... But where does happiness really come from?
I have given this a lot of thought during the many years of my life, and what I have come to discover is that happiness comes from a completely different place than I originally thought.
I think back through my childhood in good ole Sandy, Utah when happiness meant buying an ice cream cone at the gas station or riding my bike to go play Super Mario Brothers at the local grocery store.
Then as I grew, happiness meant having money to buy new cassette tapes, or going out on a date with the latest girl that made my tummy do somersaults. On other days it was watching sports with my Dad, or camping in the mountains and fishing some little beaver ponds...
Bottom line is that "Happiness" seemed to come from a lot of places. I didn't really give it much thought until my life stopped being so 'busy', and I had (way too much) time to really consider where happiness came from.
Truth be told, I was forced to figure it out because there came a point after college where I wasn't so happy. I'd moved away from College to 'Live the California Dream' in the SF Bay area during the .COM explosion. But instead of turning out like I had envisioned (Picture me living by the beach with my Mercedes, and owning a cutting edge .COM company) I found myself in a strange new place, with no friends, an old pickup truck, and no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
It was then that I began to learn where happiness truly comes from...
I found that all I really had was 'ME', and if I was going to be 'Happy' then it had to come from somewhere inside. Now that might sound a little idealistic, or like a bunch of 'Hair Brained Non-Sense'; but I've found it to be true over and over during the course of my life.
Simply put, Happiness is a choice.
Each day we wake up and decide if we are going to be grateful for all of the incredible things that we DO have in our lives-- or we can be 'Grouchy Smurf' and look at how terrible things are, or focus on what we WISH we had in our lives.
Let me give you an example: Almost every one of us wishes that we had more money, right? Even the super-duper wealthy guy (you know the one), wishes he had more money. And nearly everyone has at least one person who loves them dearly-- it could be your Mom, Dad, Children, Spouse, etc. And most of us spend time being healthy for portions of our lives but also suffer some sort of major health issue along the journey, right?
The point to all of this is essentially that we are all in the same boat. We all have dreams, we all have fears, we all wish we were more like 'Joe Blow' or 'Jane Doe'. We are all the same... we just vary in degree.
So why are some people so happy and others feel that happiness is only something that happens in movies and fairy tales?
It's the choice you make inside...
Are you acknowleding the amazing life that you are able to live? Or are you focusing on all of the things that you (falsely) believe you need in order to be happy?
In the end, it's all up to you. Think about it and make your choice... It will make all the difference in how you see the world-- and the best part is that you control it-- 100%!
~ Derick Van Ness
1 comment:
Hey Derick it's Kelly (Richards) I came across your blog and wanted to say hi. Seems like things are going well for you and that you're happy. I'm so glad. I'll have to check up on you every now and then. Good luck achieving all your dreams. :)
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