14 Questions to Help You Be in Charge of Your Happiness …

14 Questions to Help You Be in Charge of Your Happiness …

[This is another guest post by the brilliant Dani of Positively Present. Her blog is a little ray of sunshine on the world wide web; it's an inspiration portal. Thanks Dani!]

To truly love yourself, you have to support your own happiness. You have to be 100% behind yourself, supporting your own actions, choices, and decisions. This can be hard to do when you’re up against a lot of different forces in your life – parents, teachers, friends, etc. But, no matter what, you must believe that your happiness is worthwhile – and you have a lot more control over your happiness than you might realize.

Too many people are actually sabotaging their own happiness – and most of them are doing so unknowingly. In life, there are many things we cannot control. We cannot control other people. We cannot control the weather. We cannot control some of the circumstances we find ourselves in. But we can control ourselves.

And too many of us are not taking our own happiness into account – a sure sign that we’re not giving ourselves the love and affection we deserve. Take a look at the list of questions below and answer them honestly. Don’t just breeze through them. Really think about them and ask yourself if you find yourself doing these things.

Do you always say “yes”?
Do you always say “no”?
Do you take on too much? Too many classes? Activities?
Do you waste time on things that make you unhappy?
Do you spend time with people who cause you unhappiness?
Do you sleep too much? Not enough?
Do you eat foods that will keep you healthy and strong?
Do you speak to yourself with a tone of self-love?
Do you spend enough time laughing every day?
Do you believe in yourself?
Do you surround yourself with those that believe in you?
Do you spend time outdoors, in nature, or with animals?
Do you read and/or learn about subjects you’re interested in?
Do you feel inspired? Do you strive to inspire other people?

How do you feel after you asked yourself these questions? Do you realize now that you are in control of a lot of elements in your life that impact your happiness? While it’s quite easy to blame things or people or situations, we do have some control when it comes to living happy lives. If you want to be able to give the world all you have to offer, you have to take a step back from how you’re living and really examine your answers to these questions. Do you like the answers you see? If not, what can you do to change them?

You cannot control everything in your life – and you never will be able to – but there are quite a few things you can control. It’s up to you to consider these questions honestly and decide what – if anything – you need to change in your life. If you want to live a life you love, you have to take control of your own happiness. Recognize that a great many things are out of your control, but it’s up to you to make the most of what you can control. It’s up to you to choose happiness.

More about Dani: This article was written by Dani, the creator ofhttp://www.PositivelyPresent.com. After twenty-five years of living with a negative attitude, Dani decided to turn her life around and start focusing on the positive. In 2009, she launched Positively Present, a blog focused on living positively in the present moment and since then her personal development site as grown and it continues to touch people around the world.