Happiness Abridged: Gratitude and Attitude

If you truly want to change it can't be on the surface level.  It's something you have to nurture and grow within yourself.  Nothing worthwhile happens overnight (if someone can claim they can, it's probably temporary or a gimmick).

So why gratitude and attitude?  Gratitude is being grateful for what you have.  You just have to mentally relax and think about it.  Truly think about what makes you grateful.  It might be something simple as running water.  There are places in the world where running water isn't readily available so they have to carry it in barrels everyday back and forth on foot.  Maybe it's the fact you have a roof over your head despite being in debt and not sure when to pay the gas bill.  But you aren't sick, don't have cancer, and have another day to live to sort the issues you have in your life.  Because we won't live forever.  Then you look at your situation, and yes it can be bad, but it's not as bad when you have gratitude.  It opens your mind to relax a little more and gives you more opportunities to get out of the situation you are in.

A good attitude will help your overall experience.  Imagine a person in front of you.  Imagine this person has a slope in his shoulders because he is constantly looking down.  He looks back and forth with shifty eyes and looks down again.  Imagine you feel that this person has a bad attitude which also makes you feel that this person is not pleasant to be around. Imagine this person is you.  Do you want that to be?  Does that make this person seem approachable or even likable?  The thing is attitude shows from the inside to the outside.  When you practice gratitude and you have a good attitude, you become approachable.  In the laws of the universal, we all like pleasant things so pleasant things will attract more pleasant things.  Bad attitudes don't solve anything but good attitudes can.

Happiness is a state of being content and feeling uplifted.  It's hard in today's world because even though we are "free" there are so many fallacies of what it means to be happy.  Being happy doesn't mean you are feeling it 24/7 just that you feel it often.  It's okay to have other emotions.  In fact it's okay to be upset and sad.  How else would we know when we are happy if we having nothing to compare it to?  Also being happy doesn't mean you are excited, screaming out of your lungs, and smiling all the time.  Happiness could be as simple as you enjoying whatever you are doing even if that means reading a book, taking a bath, or sitting on the sofa dreaming away.  

Understanding our emotions is like exercising.  It a habit we have to nurture and constantly work for.  Practicing gratitude and having a good attitude is something you have to constantly remind yourself to do.  So here are few tips to help get you started.  Since half of the battle is remembering to do it in the first place, especially after you finish reading this.  

Here are some ideas you can do now so you don't forget:
1)  Put in on your phone and calendar.  Remind yourself to think about gratitude and your attitude.
2) Get a sticky note and put in on your computer monitor.  Let it be the only sticky note.  Or put in on you bathroom mirror.
3) go to your e-mail account and reset your password to acronyms or a mantra that will help remind you to be grateful and have a good attitude or just start off with one of them.