Happiness Needs to be a Priority

© Marek

​I've shared a few excerpts over the years from Melody Beattie. The piece below is for January 7 from her book Journey to the Heart. 

I know a lot of you are outrageously cynical when it comes to motivational reading, but this one hits home for so many of us, me included. For example, there are days when things are so hectic, I forget to be happy. I get so buried in the challenges of business, my schedule, phone calls and appointments that I stop smiling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not miserable, just forgetting to take my "appreciation vitamins".

And that's why I love being able to share something a little inspirational now and then. Melody Beattie helps me put things back in focus. Things she writes about help me refocus my energy, just like picking a point of focus in a scene you're about to capture with your camera. Feeding my brain with something motivational helps me prioritize various pieces of my life and I'm able to relax and concentrate on the things most important.

I saw a sign in a gift shop here in Sarasota once that really is true...

Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn!

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Click to read more - better yet, order a copy for your own library.

​by Melody Beattie
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The sign hangs on the wall of a bagel shop: "Don't forget to be happy."

Sometimes we get so bogged down in dealing with feelings, issues, problems --the realities and details of our lives -- we forget to be happy. Often happiness can be ours if we just remember to be happy. 

Joy is a choice -- a deliberate, conscious choice. That choice is available to us each day. Our joy isn't controlled by others or by outward circumstances. Joy comes from a deeper place, a place of security within ourselves. It's an attitude, not a transitory emotion.

Remember to be kind. Remember to be loving. Remember to feel all your feelings and to take care of yourself. But most of all, remember to be happy.

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