The Pursuit of Happiness...

Okay, so Oprah's rerun today has inspired this post. She has Goldie Hawn, Jenny McCarthy, and a legitimate researcher/doctor on discussing what factors into people's happiness. The Pursuit of Happiness is promised to us in the Declaration of Independence. I whole heartedly agree with Will Smith's character in the movie "Pursuit of Happiness" that happiness is not a guarantee. Happiness will not automatically fall into your lap. It is not something that can be seen or solved with the snap of your fingers. Happiness, I believe, results from the actions you take day to day. Your active participation in your choices in life is what determines your happiness. You can choose to be negative and down or you can choose to be positive and upbeat. The way that people respond to a situation factors into their happiness as well. You have to be directly involved with your happiness. You can't depend on other people to fulfill your every whim when it comes to happiness because they are concerned with their own happiness. Each experience should not be a "woe is me" scenario if it doesn't go your way. I want to take all future experiences, whether they be positive or negative, and turn them into a learning experience. Looking at situations that do not go my way as a learning experience rather than letting it get me down, I believe will be a much better use of my energy than letting the negativity overwhelm my outlook.