Happiness is...

A Gold Star for Bizzy
Originally uploaded by Bizzy Girl.

Someone once said that happiness is a journey, not a destination. However many of us continue to trudge through life from one job to the next, one relationship to the next hoping to find happiness...as if it is waiting for us around the next corner.

I have done a lot of soul searching over the past few years as to what exactly it is that would make me 'happy'. Every job I have ever had, and every person I have ever been with has left me disappointed and let down. I have often asked myself, to quote the obsessive-compulsive character recently portrayed by Jack Nicholson, "What if this is as good as it gets?"

I have come to the conclusion that there is only one thing standing between me and my happiness...

...myself.

If your thoughts are your reality, then theoretically I should be able to positively affect my reality with my thoughts. We CHOOSE our thoughts and feelings at any given time. Thus, if I am miserable it is because I choose to be.

In a book I read a few years back called "How to be Happy No Matter What", I took one valuable piece of advice: focus only on the present. You have little control over the future, and absolutely NONE over the past, so why let it get you down? Focus your thoughts and energies on what you are doing RIGHT NOW, and (unless you are sitting in the ER with a critically ill relative or stuck in traffic gridlock) your spirits will be lifted almost immediately.

Take my job, for example. It sucks balls. It is unbelieveably stressful, and I think I may be coming down with an ulcer, and I have a boss from Hell who ain't going anywhere anytime soon. I have a choice: either put up with it or leave. I know where the door is, so I have made the choice to put up with it. Because I am choosing every day to drag myself into work I need to find a way to cope. Instead of choosing to be miserable at work, I find ways to laugh about my boss' ridiculousness and our employees' complete and utter disregard for their assignments, and I encourage my coworkers to do the same.

It's how I keep my sanity.

However in the meantime I am taking action to facilitate another job opportunity for myself. I am taking night school courses in the endeavour to complete my HR studies and obtain certification so that I can eventually find a better job much more suited to my skills and work culture preferences, and one that pays me what I'm worth...unlike my current gig.

I am currently in my fifth course out of ten towards my certificate. Every page of my textbook that I read, every test that I take and every exam that I write brings me one step closer to my goal. Being the only student in my class to score perfect on this last one was just icing on the cake!!!

So I believe that true happiness is built into your character. You can't depend on someone or something to make you happy, as it is not external. You have to learn to adapt to change, see the lighter side and revel in what is awesome in the right here and now to be truly happy. Stop waiting for happiness to come and instead find it right in front of you.

-Bizzy