My life started a long time ago...this is today. Happiness 101.

I've heard many times over the years that anyone can DECIDE to have a good day or a bad day. While I've believed that to an extent, I have never truly felt a connection to the truth in it or how it worked...until last night. I've always thought if I felt badly about what happened in my day it was bad...or on the other hand, if I felt good about the things that happened to me one day, it was great! The fact of the matter is this...I CAN'T choose all of what I experience from day to day. In fact, the more I try to manipulate my experiences the greater chance it's going to lead to a source of negativity because of my LACK of authority over my circumstances and life. Control in this way is not only overrated...its false and doesn't ACTUALLY EXIST. (This may be shocking coming from me, but I do LOGICALLY understand it) The ultimate paradigm shift came in this way for me: At the end of the day (or during/after a particular circumstance) I can be negative or positive about it. Granted, I naturally feel more of a magnetic pull to be positive if it was a good experience and negative if it was a bad one, but I can CHOOSE to be negative about a good one and positive about a bad one, so in retrospect that IS something I can regulate. This means after a day like yesterday (nothing great happened and I didn't feel anything wonderful) my experience does NOT have to define the greatness of my day. I claimed it to be a good day in spite of what did or did not occur and I stood behind that feeling which then, in turn, made me feel terrific! So in fact, the situations of the day have nothing to do with how wonderful I perceive the day has or has not been. A day full of negative experiences and LOTS of growth opportunities can be a TERRIFIC day! I've been looking for reasons to justify my day being wonderful or dull, when I had the idea behind it totally wrong. If I focus on the external events to bring me joy and happiness I will have some, but I will have many perfectly fabulous days that aren't satisfactory because they simply existed and didn't include any stupendous events. On that same thought, If I'm focusing on external events I will continue to have countless horrible days because the opportunities I'm having aren't high enough for my expectations and ideals...or are actually awful circumstances. In reality, its not necessary to lose the greatness of those days because of a few less than perfect situations.

I can choose for this day to be a terrific day regardless of what happens. This is the best day of my life thus far because I know I am heading in the right direction! My experiences are not all that I want and my life situation does not meet the expectations and outcomes that I hope for, but my day TODAY is the greatest it could ever be. I have complete control over how I feel about this moment and it's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.