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Happy Life Tip of the Week, Issue #062- Happy Thoughts
May 19, 2010
Hello

When you keep happy thoughts, your circumstances often improve.

You are not happy because you are well.
You are well because you are happy.
You are not depressed because trouble has come to you,
but trouble has come to you because you are depressed.
You can change your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will come to correspond,
and indeed there is no other way of working.

Emmet Fox

This tip is more than just saying if you hope for the best things will get better. To improve your life from the inside out means making the effort to change your thoughts one moment and one thought at a time. We think thousands of thoughts a day. We even think when we are sleeping, as anyone who has ever woken up from a dream feeling disoriented knows. It is not the individual thoughts that you think that define who you are, but the thoughts you repeat and amplify that define you.

Happy Thoughts can include memories of good times, dreams about the future, or just an acknowledgement that at this very moment life is good. Happy people often use phrases like, "This is fun" or "I love to dance".

Our minds tend to repeat the patterns they are used to. When we are depressed or stressed, we tend to use the same sad or worried words all the time. Sometimes, just reminding ourselves of the words that mean happiness can help lift our mood. Try this list of Happy Words, or make up your own happy word list to help improve your thoughts.

Another word switch that helps keep happy thoughts is to change from I have to to I get to. For example instead of I have to get up and go to work say to yourself, I get to get up this morning and I get to go to work. If you can manage to repeat these thoughts with enthusiasm, you can turn your whole day around.

Happy thoughts are not a magic bullet for a happy life, but repeated focus on happy thoughts, on the good things in your life, will help you see more good things, more opportunities and more places where you yourself can improve things. Over time, these little improvements in your outlook can add up to recognizing more opportunities and improved outer circumstances in your life. Indeed …

When you keep happy thoughts, your circumstances often improve.



Affirmation
I choose to repeat my happy thoughts in my head and let the worried and unhappy thoughts go. I focus on what is good and going right in my life.

Journal or Meditation Question
Where have my thoughts turned negative, worried, or sad and my life has followed? Is there a happier way to think about the situation? What is going right in my life? What feels good? Where can I substitute happier words in my common thoughts?

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