A few days ago I started to read the book, How We Choose to be Happy. No, I am not creating a habit of reading self-help books. I read this book because I knew it would challenge some of the opinions I had. The book did just that. I am not saying that I have a completely new opinion on happiness, but this book talks about 9 choices of extremely happy people. It's a collection of stories from people all over the world who are very happy people. Over a three year study, these are the 9 choices these people made. The book was an easy read, and it literally only took me 3 days to read because I found it to be very intriguing.
1. Intention. This part of the book focused on how we need to have an intention to be happy. Without it, we really can't conquer the 8 other choices that happy people make.
2. Accountability. This part focused on how we need to take complete control over situations that happen in our lives. We can't blame people, where we are, or something else beyond our control. If we hold ourselves accountable, we are able to look at the bigger picture and choose how to make the best out of the situation.
3. Identification. The section focused on how happiness is not on the surface. For example, if you have nice clothes, a nice car, or a nice house, it doesn't mean you will be happy. It also focuses on how we need to identify what is best for ourselves. It's what we need, rather than what we want.
4. Centrality. This part of the book talks about how we need to centralize the things that mean the most to us. This allows us to live out our passions and follow our hearts. It's about doing what we want and not what others want. The book had us create a list of our dreams and talked about centralizing how to live them out.
5. Recasting. This section was about overcoming those situations that make us extremely unhappy like the loss of a loved one or experiencing something beyond our control like a house fire, and how to cope with these events. Recasting is all about thriving during a difficult time so we don't lose those moments of happiness we will never get back.
6. Options. This part simply is about weighing out options during situations when we feel disappointed. It helps us become more aware that we have other opportunities in life and how to overcome roadblocks.
7. Appreciation. This part of the books was perhaps my favorite. It talked about loving yourself and knowing when to put yourself first. It also talked about how we can celebrate others and appreciate those around us. In life, we are told to put others before ourselves. This part of the book challenged that thought on how we become happy by learning what things we need to be happy and not only acknowledging those things, but appreciating those things.
8. Giving. This was all about giving during the toughest times. It talked about a woman who had a dream to become a dance instructor. Through many battles, she eventually opened up her own dance studio. She was highly successful in pursuing her dream. She was so good, that ultimately her students wanted to do what she did and open up their own dance studios. She discouraged them at first, but then thought of how nobody discouraged her from going out on her own. She learned to feel satisfied with helping others who had helped her.
9. Truthfulness. Being honest is often a hard concept because it so easy to tell lies, even simple white lies. But this part focuses on how happier people are the ones who are honest with themselves and honest with those around them. It makes life easier too because then you don't have to remember who you told what to. The majority of this part focused on how we need to be true to ourselves first.
Most of the symmetrization's may not make complete sense, but reading this book as a whole was a good decision for me. It challenged my views and helped me learn about what I was or was not doing to be on the right path to happiness. I haven't considered myself to be an unhappy person, but this book helped me learn to be happy even in those tough situations and how happiness truly is a choice we make. I feel like everyone deserves to live a life of happiness because it's never fun being sad or depressed. Yet we all have those times where we want to blame others, not be honest with ourselves, or help others. This book helped me overcome some of those challenges many of us are often faced with.
1. Intention. This part of the book focused on how we need to have an intention to be happy. Without it, we really can't conquer the 8 other choices that happy people make.
2. Accountability. This part focused on how we need to take complete control over situations that happen in our lives. We can't blame people, where we are, or something else beyond our control. If we hold ourselves accountable, we are able to look at the bigger picture and choose how to make the best out of the situation.
3. Identification. The section focused on how happiness is not on the surface. For example, if you have nice clothes, a nice car, or a nice house, it doesn't mean you will be happy. It also focuses on how we need to identify what is best for ourselves. It's what we need, rather than what we want.
4. Centrality. This part of the book talks about how we need to centralize the things that mean the most to us. This allows us to live out our passions and follow our hearts. It's about doing what we want and not what others want. The book had us create a list of our dreams and talked about centralizing how to live them out.
5. Recasting. This section was about overcoming those situations that make us extremely unhappy like the loss of a loved one or experiencing something beyond our control like a house fire, and how to cope with these events. Recasting is all about thriving during a difficult time so we don't lose those moments of happiness we will never get back.
6. Options. This part simply is about weighing out options during situations when we feel disappointed. It helps us become more aware that we have other opportunities in life and how to overcome roadblocks.
7. Appreciation. This part of the books was perhaps my favorite. It talked about loving yourself and knowing when to put yourself first. It also talked about how we can celebrate others and appreciate those around us. In life, we are told to put others before ourselves. This part of the book challenged that thought on how we become happy by learning what things we need to be happy and not only acknowledging those things, but appreciating those things.
8. Giving. This was all about giving during the toughest times. It talked about a woman who had a dream to become a dance instructor. Through many battles, she eventually opened up her own dance studio. She was highly successful in pursuing her dream. She was so good, that ultimately her students wanted to do what she did and open up their own dance studios. She discouraged them at first, but then thought of how nobody discouraged her from going out on her own. She learned to feel satisfied with helping others who had helped her.
9. Truthfulness. Being honest is often a hard concept because it so easy to tell lies, even simple white lies. But this part focuses on how happier people are the ones who are honest with themselves and honest with those around them. It makes life easier too because then you don't have to remember who you told what to. The majority of this part focused on how we need to be true to ourselves first.
Most of the symmetrization's may not make complete sense, but reading this book as a whole was a good decision for me. It challenged my views and helped me learn about what I was or was not doing to be on the right path to happiness. I haven't considered myself to be an unhappy person, but this book helped me learn to be happy even in those tough situations and how happiness truly is a choice we make. I feel like everyone deserves to live a life of happiness because it's never fun being sad or depressed. Yet we all have those times where we want to blame others, not be honest with ourselves, or help others. This book helped me overcome some of those challenges many of us are often faced with.
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