Each person defines happiness differently. Some believe happiness is: money, family, sex, success, friends. Maybe it is all of these things? What about when there is a trial in your life that causes you pain, are there still things that a person can be happy about? I think so.

What if happiness is a state of mind? A person creates the state they are going to be in no matter the external factors around them. I am not saying to ignore what is happening around you, but you can choose to be hurt, angry, sad, happy, or many other feelings that can be experienced.

It can be difficult to be happy when a situation happens and seems to have the person’s whole world turned upside down.

I have been in situations like that: father dying, family moving away, loss of relationships, but I had a choice too. I had the choice to hurt, upset, grieve, anger, anxiety and I did feel those feelings for a time being. I did allow myself to experience many different feelings because I knew that I need to work through my feelings. After grieving, I looked at what I was able to do, who I had to talk with and made the decision that I was going to be okay.

It is still sad to not have my dad in my life and Father’s Day hurts a bit, but I choose to remember what I learned from him. I also choose to learn from past relationships because I am happier when I make the choice to be happy.

I may have a couple of different points in this post: tragedies happen, loss happens, some tragedies are from our own decisions and control and others are totally out of our control; we can choose to focus on the past hurt and keep ourselves in that situation with our thoughts; we can choose to remember the good and learn from the past; we can choose to be happy.

So, happiness is a choice and for each person has a different meaning. I do hope that you find what happiness means to you and you enjoy the happiness, even if you are in a difficult situation,, “it too will pass”.