Today I choose

Today I choose _____________.

Those can be some of the most powerful words to say. They invoke an authority over our lives, an authority that we often forget that we have.

Every day, actually every moment, of our lives is a choice. What we do and what we don't do, what we say and what we don't say, every reaction we have is a choice. To believe otherwise is to stay in a victim mentality where we have no control over what is happening to us.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "no one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

It can be a hard reality to face that we ourselves make the choice to feel bad, miserable, unfit, flawed, pathetic, stressed, unwelcome or any other negative feeling found in your average thesaurus. It can be even harder to make the change in ourselves to be able to choose happiness.

You see, we are seldom rewarded for being happy. As a child we learn that if we are upset our mother will comfort us, our teacher will help us, our friends will sympathize with us. When we are happy we are frequently asked, "what are you so happy about?" Many times the question is spoken with deep sarcasm. We learn that others don't celebrate in our happiness, only in our misery.

We have the power to change that.

You may say that with the state of (the world, my job, my finances, my life) how can I possibly be happy. Simple, just make the choice to be happy. Eventually, you will get better at choosing happiness. It does take practice. It isn't something that will come to you overnight. Just as with any skill the more you use it the better you get at it.

Don't allow yourself to get discouraged and stop practicing if the untroubled feeling doesn't last long. At first it may be a fleeting state, but you will learn to sustain it longer. You just need to state to yourself, "I have the power to change my emotions. Right now I choose to be ___________."

Try it. I think you'll like the outcome.