Amazingly, many people, when given the opportunity to be happy, will choose not to do so. Whether it is because of experiences that happened in their childhood, or fears, or insecurities, or even addictions, too many people prefer not to be happy. Are you one of them?

Addiction to mental states can be a major factor in choosing unhappiness. Some people are accustomed to being afraid, or angry, and the neurotransmitters that are responsible for fear and anger can be addictive. Therefore, when faced with a choice about whether to be happy, or angry or afraid, these people will choose anger or fear instead of happiness. If this applies to you, you must learn to break the addictive cycle of these neurotransmitters and avoid the triggers that release these chemicals.

Some people are not accustomed to thinking of happiness as a choice: they believe that happiness is dependent on a set of outside circumstances over which they have no control. However, much of your attitude is determined by how you talk to yourself, and therefore, by learning to talk to yourself in a different way, you can learn to choose to be happy.

It is also important to remember that stress is a major factor in unhappiness. And yet, some people not only seem to thrive on stress, but if they don’t have enough stress, they will create it. (In many cases, this is also due to neurotransmitter addiction.) If you have this problem, it is vital that you learn to replace stress-causing behaviours with behaviours that will promote your relaxation.

By learning to think of happiness as a choice, you will not only be able to be happier yourself, but also help spread happiness among everyone you meet. And that will mean that you will have a lot better results in your business and personal relationships, because everyone likes to be around someone that makes them feel good!