How to be Happy (Even When it’s Hard)

Do you know how to be happy… Even when it’s hard? We’ve all had those days (or maybe sometimes it’s weeks or months) when we feel like no matter what we do life just keeps kicking us back down. Days that feel like nothing good will ever happen again. The fact is, everyone has those days. No matter their situation in life. The good news is we don’t have to stay there, again, no matter our situation in life. The biggest secret in this world is one that you probably never learned in school. We get to CHOOSE our thoughts!

“When there’s a smile in your heart there’s no better time to start.” -Peter Pan

Every day we have between 60,000 and 80,000 thoughts randomly pop into our heads. That’s as many as 55 per minute, almost one per second and 2500-3300 an hour. That’s a lot of thoughts.

If we aren’t aware and paying attention to what those thoughts are, they can quickly spiral out of control. But if we instead become aware of our thoughts everything can change! It’s like purposefully tuning in to your favorite podcasts or making a playlist on YouTube. Making conscious choices about what we are listening to. Rather than just turning on the radio or TV and letting whatever comes on play.

Do you find that your thoughts aren’t happy as often as you would like? For 24 hours try a little experiment. CHOOSE your happy thoughts. Decide what some of them can be beforehand. I like to write down some happy thoughts and post them where I can see them all day. Then, each time I see my list it reminds me to do a thought check and change any negative thoughts to beautiful thoughts instead.

Here are some happy thought ideas to get you started:

» Do you have a place that makes you smile by just thinking about it?

» What about a special person in your life? A family member, spouse or friend?

» What are some happy memories that make your heart feel good?

» Is there a funny TV show or book that you enjoy?

There are so many happy and wonderful things about this beautiful world! Everyone goes through hard times. That’s all part of our journey here. It’s even important to allow ourselves to work through things as best we can. However, life is also an amazing ride filled with so much good! It would be a shame to not be able to enjoy it.

If you have been struggling to know how to be happy even when life is hard, I would challenge you to start paying attention to your thoughts. Purposefully make sure to place happy and positive thoughts in your mind. This will keep sad thoughts away and leave you feeling happier, healthier and full of life.

There is a quote from Peter Pan that I feel sums this up beautifully.