Happiness is something that many people fight for every day, but many times they can't achieve it. Often, they feel that happiness can belong to them as long as their circumstances are different. Have you ever felt that way?
We often get caught up in what I call "if only". If only my husband had been nicer to me. If only I had a better job. If only the kids were old enough to get out of the house. The list can go ahead.
We can waste a lot of precious time dreaming "if only". Many people fall into this trap and end up spending most of their time miserable.
The problem is that they are looking for happiness to come to them in some way. It's like something you can have. When happiness comes, it seems fleeting and quickly disappears.
People mistakenly believe that happiness is just a feeling of short-lived. I'm here to tell you that happiness is not a feeling, it can be a way of life. If you just follow a few basic principles, happiness can belong to you every day.
First, you have to live in the moment. Yesterday has passed and tomorrow has not yet been promised to us, so you need to live in the moment.
Second, you have to control your thoughts and the thoughts that pass through your mind. Happiness can be called a state of mind, and the way to happiness is to put your mind into a proper state.
If I live in Texas and I want to be in California, I need to change states. In order for me to be in that state, I need to make some changes. In this parable, we will decide to take the train. The train had to go in the right direction for us to reach our destination. We have to know which train we're on, or we might go somewhere we don't want to go.
Think of this train as your idea. That's right, your train of thought. If you don't want to stay in Texas, you have to take the right train. If you let any thoughts come into your mind, then you will be brought back and never reach your desired destination.
So the question is how do we get on the right train?
The ticket to board the right train is called thanksgiving. Gratitude is an attitude, and when we see everything we have to be thankful for instead of dwelling on what our problems are, we find that we can also quickly get into the state we want to be.
There is a way to happiness, and that path is gratitude.