Happiness is a choice

As I watched the pelicans fish, I felt very connected to their relentless pursuits of catching and of success. I watched them take off from the water, fly around, and then dive mouths open straight into the water. If they weren’t successful, they would start over, pick a different area, and try it again.

What I observed and connected to was that the pelican doesn’t just sit in the water waiting for a fish to come by. They make an attempt, if it doesn’t work, they choose a different strategy, and try again until they are successful or fulfilled. They don’t just wait. They look for something else. They try something new. They try a different strategy. They don’t give up. They are in an active pursuit of what will make them feel nourished and fulfilled.

There is a quote by my favorite author, and someone I consider a teacher of my life, Elizabeth Gilbert in her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, where she says, “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You have to fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes travel halfway around the world looking for it.”

Watching the pelicans and recalling that quote, I just felt so connected and "one with the pelicans” as someone who believes that happiness is the consequence of personal effort and that happiness can be a choice, not by way of spiritual bypassing or by not honoring the full range of human emotions. But if you’re not happy or you’re not feeling fulfilled, then maybe its time to get into the active pursuit of it. Maybe it’s time to change something in your life. Because it’s not going to happen by simply waiting for it to happen. Change isn’t going to happen until you change something in your life. If you’re repeating the same patterns daily, weekly, monthly, or you’re repeating the same thoughts and beliefs in your head, than it.

It’s your responsibility and your vital human right to be in the active pursuit of your most fulfilled and happy life possible! .And it is possible!

It may be that you need to change your career, your location, your daily routines, or even your mindset.

So now, it’s over to you: what might you experiment with this week?

If you are feeling stuck or lost or uninspired, try picking one of these to try:

1. Experiment with a new morning routine. Let the sun hit your face immediately versus looking at your phone.

2. Before you go to bed each night, list 3 ordinary moments that brought you extraordinary joy that day.

3. Draw a big circle on a piece of paper and write down everything YOU want in your life in that circle.

4. Ask 3 people you are close to this question: “When am I most inspired?”

5. When you find yourself complaining about something, ask yourself, “What am I committed to within this complaint?” This puts you in choice and power about how to shift it!