How I Taught Myself To Be A Happier Person.

I am happy, I am sad, I am awake, I am reading, I am human, I am alive.

Have you noticed that we talk about what we are doing the same way we talk about what we are? We don’t say I am currently happy or I am currently reading, even though we know that these are only temporary states, because while we’re doing them, it is kind of fair to say we are them. We become what we’re doing, or to be more precise; what our brain is doing.

Think about being in love, or just being extraordinarily happy. These aren’t feelings you choose. There isn’t a deliberate component to the true expression of these, or in fact any other feelings. Something mysterious happens in your brain, something which you have no power to start or to stop, and it changes you. You are happy. You are in love.

We imagine that these feelings arise because of something that’s happened to us, but that’s not quite right. It would be lovely if meeting a certain set of conditions out in the world would guarantee that we would feel happy for example, but sadly we’re all well aware that it’s not that simple. Sometimes everything seems perfect but we just don’t feel right, other times we’re surprised by how good we feel in less than ideal circumstances.

Again, the fact that we even can be surprised by our feelings is important. It’s possible…