It seems that everywhere I turn someone is talking about winning the Mega Millions Lottery tonight. Friends are posting about it on Facebook and twitter, news agencies are making it the lead story and it was a topic of conversation at dinner last night. The total is currently $540 Million and we all love to dream about what it would be like to have that type of cash. All this hype made me think about the happiness lottery.
Are you just sitting back and waiting to win?
Think about all the millionaires you know. (I’ll wait) Now think about how they became millionaires. Chances are not one of them became a millionaire by winning the lottery. Why then do we think that all the happy people around us just won the happy lottery?
Happiness, like wealth is usually an earned commodity.
If you’ve been reading a while you know I am reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. In it she gives her 12 personal commandments for happiness. (Pictured to the right). I have started to write down my 12 personal commandments and I’ll be sharing as I go (by the time we finish this task of Pursuing The Theory of Happiness these may not make the twelve. So think out loud with me – here are my first three:
1. Eat – a hungry Gayle is a grumpy Gayle. I think no further explanation is needed here. The caveat is to eat right and not just junk.
2. If it bothers you fix it. I have a bad habit of waiting for someone else to fix something that bothers me. Unfortunately, what I find irritating they find acceptable. It would be easier and make me happier if I just took the time to fix it.
3. Put things away. This is very closely related the commandment above. I can’t expect others to put their tools / papers/ etc away if I leave my things everywhere. Lead by example.
Now go buy a lotto ticket and good luck!
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