By Richard Carlson

It’s always been interesting to me that the average person (go ahead and ask them), spends ten times (or more) the amount of time watching television than he or she does even considering happiness.

In fact, in one poll that I conducted, not a single person out of more than 30 people admitted to spending even one second thinking about how they might go about becoming happier!

Some of these people spent anywhere from 2-7 hours a day in front of a television set, yet not one minute contemplating what could amount to the most important question of one’s life—how can I be happier?

One of the first rules of any venture is that in order to get somewhere, you need at least a general idea of how to get there and, at the very least, where you are going!

We’re really lucky in a way as learning to be happy is a very easy thing to do. In fact, happiness is our natural state. If left to our devices and if we could find a way to stop interfering with the flow, we’d be extremely happy right now. So while life did not come with a instruction book on happiness, it really didn’t have to. By following some really simple principles and also knowing how to get out of our own way, we can become extremely happy, regardless of our present circumstances.

Most people would agree with the notion that when a baby is born, he or she is a fairly clean slate. In other words, they aren’t vicious, reactive, judgmental, dissatisfied, prejudice, jealous, or angry. Instead, they are simply little beings who are curious and open to learning. Unfortunately, most of the time they eventually learn some pretty negative thinking which leads to some pretty unhappy times.

We are taught that our thoughts are real and that we should pay attention to them. Problem is, they aren’t real, they are just thoughts.

Think of a time when you were, say, driving home from a baseball game and on the last play of the game, your favorite player, dropped an easy ball and blew the game and the season for your team and all the fans, you being one of them. You’re now in the comfort of your own home and the outcome of the game is brought up by other members of your family. You start to think about the dropped ball and you start to get depressed. You launch into a lecture about how the team needs new outfielders! Yikes, it’s happening all over again!

It’s as if the dropped ball is happening all over again in your living room. As you think about it, you get more and more distressed, after all, you rationalize, he “did” drop the ball!

That’s true he did drop the ball. But let me show you how easy it is to dismiss that thought now that the event is over. You’re about to see that while the unfortunate event did occur, it’s now only a harmless thought with no power over you other than that which you give it. And once you realize this, happiness will be moments away.

To Be Continued…