Creating Your Happiness Road

Life is a journey and our power to choose helps to create the pathway. We can either trudge along stress-fully with a woe is me attitude that makes it seem like the road is rocky and painful. Or we can glide along a happy trail attitude where we may still have rocks along the way but life is smoother as we make wise positive choices.

This second mindset of happiness choices is a focus of a book of short essays by Tal Ben-Shahar PhD. He is one of the leaders of the Positive Psychology movement. I will always count it a privilege to have heard his lectures on Positive Psychology through a University of Pennsylvania Continuing Education online program a few years ago. His new book I am reading at the start of this new year is Choose The Life You Want: 101 Ways to Create Your Own Road to Happiness. It is a grouping of 101 thought provoking essays for living a better happier life.

In the very beginning he reminds the reader that in each of our moments we have a choice to make. Each of our choices have consequences. He states, “what we choose to do and how we choose to think directly impact how we feel.” When we are faced with difficulties we can choose to think that life is against us and continue in a negative life is a grey cloud pathway for understand rain falls on everyone and use the difficulty as a turning point to move in a positive direction. Some of the topics he touches on are: making a difference, forgiveness, focus on your strengths, look at difficulty as a challenge, appreciate good things, patience and success. In the tiny book there are 101 ideas on helping you have a happier life.

His title reminded me of an old Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song, Happy Trails. Here are the lyrics:

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

The lines that stood out to me were: “Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It's the way you ride the trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you.” This speaks to what Dr. Ben-Shahar is trying to get at in his book. Positive Psychology does not rule out the Blue days that some our way. But how are you riding the trail? Even on the blue days you can have a song in your heart or in other words work on positive choices that help the ride go more smoothly.

Pick up a copy of this book for yourself or encourage your local library to add it to their collection so you can start creating your happiness road in this New Year.

Reflection: What kind of road are you traveling presently in your life journey? What are three things you can do to make your road a little happier?