Wednesday, 2 August 2017 One of the most popular series of posts I wrote were the ones from last year on How I lost my happiness and how I found it again. I've been thinking about happiness a lot lately and how easy it is to lose it when we slip into bad habits or when we forget how to nurture it.

So this August I thought I'd write a series of twelve posts - on my usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting days - on things we need to remind ourselves about when it comes to happiness. You'd think it would be simple and straightforward, but in my experience it's far from that - in fact it's a state of mind that I need to be vigilant in maintaining or I slip into the Grumpy Old Woman state - and that is NOT a place I want to visit for any length of time! I'm not sure why it's so hard to keep a grip on happiness. I think for me it's that constant seesaw between remembering that it's my responsibility to create my own happiness, and forgetting that fact and basing my happiness on other people and on my circumstances.

It's so easy for me to lose my sense of happiness when things aren't going as smoothly as I'd like with my family. When I have a hiccup along the way with my kids, or a difference of opinion with a friend, or worse yet - with my husband.

I allow the stress of work to suck away my happiness, I allow my co-worker's problems and marital strife to impact on my thoughts. I have to keep reminding myself that it's her choices and her refusal to deal with the situation that are the basic problem - and that they are not my problems to solve. When you have that People Pleasing gene firmly inground into your psyche it is so hard to disconnect that from the people you are surrounded with. For me, it's a constant desire for everyone to be happy, everyone to like what I'm doing or saying, everyone to be satisfied and content. When there are glitches along the way I feel the happiness start to drain away. It's silly and it's something I know shouldn't happen, so I need to be watching for the signs of it and stopping myself from getting drawn too deeply into other people's dramas and upsets.

So, August is going to be the month I remind myself about the choices I need to make in life to stay happy and to keep a smile on my face. It's a journey and maybe for some it comes easy, but for me it's a bit more up and down. I want more "ups" in my life and ultimately that's my responsibility - nobody can make me happy - it's up to me. I hope you'll join me as I work my way through 12 Choices for Happiness - maybe it'll be a reminder for you too about how important it is to choose happiness every day - and to not let wrong choices or negative influences drain our happiness from us.
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