Happiness: Is it something we have to strive or wait for?

This is the first week of a new class for me and I am excited about the first discussion post. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share it with the rest of you and would like your thoughts as well! As you can tell from the title of the post, it has to do with Happiness. Do you believe it is something we have to consistently strive for? Or does it mean something else to you? Is it something that we control?

This is what I wrote in my post:

“I agree with this statement and I must say it has taken me a long time to realize that. I believe there are things that can make striving for happiness more difficult, mental illnesses for instance. Someone with depression, for example, I feel has to work harder to achieve happiness. Diane Wing is the author of The Happiness Perspective: Seeing Your Life Differently (2016) and she said “A pattern will emerge that leads to the understanding of how you are the master of your life and what you are doing to bring things into being positive or negative. You have brought everything into your life that exists there right now. Realizing this helps you to understand the immense power you possess to change whatever it is you no longer want and to manifest your desires.” I feel this is true. We bring positive and negative things into our lives sometimes unknowingly. Does this mean we still are not allowed to have bad days? No. It is part of life, things happen good and bad what matters is how we respond to it. If someone reacts to situations in a negative way more often than positive I believe they are less likely to be as happy as someone who tries to find the silver lining in bad situations. Some cases that can be difficult, but that is when it is important to view things as a learning experience. We have the power to do that and it is only a step in striving for happiness.
Wing, D. (2016). The Happiness Perspective: Seeing Your Life Differently. Ann Arbor, MI, USA : Loving Healing Press, 2016.”