I have a dear friend who has been making this statement to me at times when I seemed unhappy over the past 35 years: “if you are unhappy, go look in the mirror and the person looking back at you is the person responsible for your happiness!” In my 20s and 30s I would just laugh and say something silly like, well I got rid of all of my mirrors last week! I wasn’t ready to let go of my belief that someone was going to ride into my life and make me the happiest woman on the planet. But, as I am approaching 65 years of age, I can say I truly get this, and I never hesitate to think about it when I am facing life’s challenges.
One of the ways I take responsibility for my happiness is to read and research and stay on top of ways that other people find and maintain their happiness. I believe there is always something new to learn, and if after reading a book I have one or two great takeaways that I can implement, I feel that the time reading was well worth it!
I highly recommend learning from the experts, as Dan Buettner calls them in his book: Thrive – Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way. Dan set out to find out what makes people who are active, healthy and happy into their 100s, and the book is full of wonderful examples! Put your happiness in focus and check out Thrive today, you will be so happy that you did!