Happiness is a choice Meaning
Happiness is a choice: In this article, we debate the topic — is happiness a choice? It sounds great for happiness to be a choice because it at least gives us a chance to control happiness. But the truth is, for most of our life, we are not in control of anything. So, there might be a slight bias at play when we say happiness is a choice and not by chance. We take inspiration from Jim Rohn’s quote today to talk about this topic — happiness is a choice!
Happiness doesn’t mean life is easy
However, it is fascinating that people associate happiness with such times. It makes us realise that there’s a connection between happiness being a choice and how we approach our life when we feel the “flow” of being in tune with our desires, actions, and outcomes.
What does the belief happiness is a choice give us?
This belief of happiness being a choice gives us more control over happiness as an event. If happiness is not by chance, we can create the environment that makes us happy and strive to be happy consistently. It also means we can choose not to engage in activities that make us unhappy, resulting in a more predictable life.
However, if happiness is viewed as a chance event, it becomes unpredictable.
We all appreciate the sense of certainty and the ability to recreate scenarios that bring us joy. Hence, the quote “happiness is not by chance” makes us feel very nice. It gives us a sense that we can control and create the situations to make us happy.
“Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” — Jim Rohn
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Happiness is a choice Inspiration
Jim Rohn’s beautiful quote reminds us that happiness is a choice. It makes us think about being in control of our happiness. It explains why sometimes people are happy even in the hardest circumstances. Examples of people chasing a goal, running a startup, etc., have memories of hardships. It also talks about happiness driven by purpose in life — where it is not a picture of a rosy life, but of hardships for a cause bigger than us.
Happiness is not by chance
The other part of this quote articulates that happiness doesn’t happen magically. We have something to do with happiness. It is in the way we treat life, deal with uncertainties, and take things as they come. If we go by the latter point of control, we can never be happy because we can never control life. However, if we can define our approach and mindset that happiness is not by chance and deal with life as it comes — we look at a different life altogether.
This certainly means that we can never always be happy, but we can increase our chances of being happy by ensuring that we focus on the most common denominator — our mindset and how we define happiness in life.
What is happiness?
The main distinction of happiness is about whether we perceive it as a journey or a destination. I feel a stronger inclination for happiness as a continuous feeling — a state of being that makes it last longer. It explains why we feel happy even when we are working very hard on something or doing taxing work.
Certain definitions of happiness also talk about “flow” and the emotional ease with which we do certain things. All these definitions of happiness point us to think about happiness as a state of being, a mindset that helps us act a certain way. And this happiness is such a beautiful drug that our mind naturally wants to be in that state of being for as long as possible.
Happiness is not by chance, but by choice
Happiness is a choice shareable images
Happiness is a choice Practical Advice
How to choose happiness?
I’m a bit conflicted about this quote — it seems to tell me that we always know what creates our happiness. It also ignores the fact that there’s a certain happiness in the quest for the unknown, the sense of adventure, and exploring what life can give us. On the other hand, if we overextend ourselves in the adventure side of happiness, we miss out on what’s in front of us.
“Happy people focus on what they have; unhappy people focus on what is missing.”
Hence, the conflict in the meaning of “happiness is not by chance but by choice.” It is, however, a wonderful theory because it means that we can be in control of our happiness. In other words, once we decide to be happy, we can be — that’s the end of it. I suppose the truth, however, is somewhere in the middle. There has to be a fair balance between the quest of finding happiness and not being obsessed with it.
How to Choose Happiness in Life
Choosing happiness in life is very easy. The positive mindset philosophy asks us to look at life’s events as positive occurrences so that every event appears to be constructive and we can build a journey from that. However, I struggle to accept this definition because the pressure to maintain a positive mindset can lead us in a negative direction, resulting in depression and a sense of denial about life.
Choosing happiness is a deeper action than just creating a positive mindset. It is about creating a mindset that enables us to take on life as it happens. It creates a life where we embrace life in all its beauty, even when it is not working out for us. It also makes us think about having faith that something beautiful will emerge from this.
Happiness is not the goal of life
Maybe happiness need not be the goal of life. Instead, it is just about experiencing the joy we get and the sorrow when it surfaces. In other words, it’s about examining and experiencing the emotions and circumstances as they come. The false sense of control in life may give us a tick-box exercise. It may even create a feeling that we are in control. But this feeling fleets as circumstances change.
“Happiness is not a goal; it’s a by-product of a life well lived.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Don’t fall into the trap of assuming the power to create happiness in life. The most important power we have is to face situations as they are and move forward. It is an egoistic approach that says, “I control my circumstances, and hence I can always be happy.” Is that even possible? Can we ever be in control of all things in this world so that we are eternally happy? Don’t you find this as much a marketing statement as a lie?
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