Hi THG Orders!
For this week’s Mental Sunshine I want to talk about the choices we make
And the choice to be happy.
I know you may read this and think, WHAT?! Happiness is not a choice!
But bear with me.
I’ve heard a few interviews recently with an author named Mo Gawdat – and he is convinced that being happy is a choice.
I don’t take that to mean that people with depression are choosing to be depressed
But also: the whole point of these weekly emails is to help you to find some mental sunshine in your life
To choose happiness whenever possible
An example Gawdat uses is this:
Someone makes a comment we don’t like, and we obsess over it all the way to work… and then we get to work, and we have to attend a meeting or answer a call – and we have to put that obsessing over the comment to one side so that we can concentrate on the task in hand.
Then we come out of the meeting or finish work, and we immediately pick up that negative comment and begin thinking about it again
We often don’t realise it, but in that moment we have chosen unhappiness.
And if we can choose unhappiness – we can change it around and choose happiness instead!
I know that sounds ridiculously simplified – and it is
But if we can learn to stop ourselves, mid-thought about something negative
And say No thanks, we’re only thinking about happy things today
Eventually, that starts to work
We can choose to let that negative thought go, and focus on something positive instead.
A great way to begin with this is to have a go-to happy thought
Something you can redirect your brain to, when it starts going towards negativity
Perhaps someone who always makes you smile
Perhaps a pet
Have something ready to go, so that when you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, you can immediately say:
Nope, not today – instead we’re thinking about this!
Over time, this really is something you can learn to do – you can learn to choose happiness!