A happy moment.

Drinking my rooibos tea and looking around as I work at a nearby cafe.

I feel satisfied to be doing work I love, and grateful that I can do it from almost anywhere in the world.

Like a cat in the sun, I am absorbing the energy of the people around me.

It’s satisfying and I feel happy.

And then I have this thought. . .

If happiness is a choice, why don’t we always choose it?

Is it a myth that happiness is a choice?

If it were true, wouldn’t more people be happy?

In her new book The Myths of Happiness Sonja Lyubomirsky suggests that we’ve been given false promises when it comes to happiness. Myths that set us up for disappointment due to their external nature.

You’re familiar with the “I’ll be happy when…” syndrome, aren’t you?

No one’s immune to it, as far as I can tell.

“It turns out that the key to happiness and health… is not how intensely happy we feel, but how often we feel positive or happy.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky

Having read Lyubomirsky’s earlier book The How of Happiness, I know she doesn’t overwhelm with scientific fact, instead delivering a very human element in her writing.

So I’m on the case, inquiring into happiness as I begin reading  The Myths of Happiness – a review will be posted February 7, 2013.

For now, I want to hear what you think.

 

Over to you: 

• Is happiness really a choice?
• If so, what helps you choose it more consistently in your life?