Happiness Is Contagious

Is happiness something we’re born with or something we learn?  Do we acquire happiness from our life experiences and the people and things around us – or do we create and control our own happiness? I believe it’s a little bit of all of the above, but mostly I believe we create and are responsible for our own happiness. As good parents we want our children to be happy. The best way to ensure this is to let them see us being happy. There’s no doubt that people and things around us can affect our level of happiness, but the bottom line is that WE have the option to not allow anything to affect our happiness. Our personal happiness is within our control. We might wonder how our happiness is in our control if we have something in our life determined to make our life miserable, but that can only happen if WE allow it to happen. Of course there are times in life when it’s perfectly natural to be sad, we can’t be happy all the time, but if there is something in our life making us sad all the time, then we need to change it. If we can’t change it then we can counter it by doing things we enjoy often, like listening to music or playing an instrument, dancing, swimming, volunteering, watching uplifting  “feel good” movies, taking a walk and most of all laughing.  Laughing is one of the best ways to counter sadness. Find what makes you happy and DO IT often. The more the better! We want to balance the negative experiences in life with positive experiences so unhappy things don’t overtake us. The more joy we can bring into our lives the less sadness can hurt us. Children raised by parents who are often sad and depressed may learn the same behavior, but the opposite is also true. So laugh and have fun with your children daily. One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is to teach them how to have fun and be happy. Happiness involves a lot more than smiling – it’s about a whole physical process of good things happening in the body. Happiness is not just a state of mind, being happy emits healthy hormones throughout the body. It’s a powerful and potent immune booster that can add years to our life. On the flip side of the coin being sad or unhappy releases bad chemicals into the body that can cause illness and take years off our lives, so take control of your happiness and create your own happy haven for you and your family – don’t depend on others to do it for you!

Do you agree that happiness is contagious or do you think we’re born with it? Share some ways you create happiness! 🙂 Just click on “Leave A Comment” above!