When I think of choices I think of the ability to choose to smile. Choosing to be happy even when life and its situations wouldn’t dictate that you would. Life is filled with things that will make you frown and be upset. Don’t you think when those things come you can choose to smile, you can choose to look at the positive?
Even when I’m not feeling as if everything is peachy in my life when someone says the phrase to me “how are you doing?” I reply with “Awesome!!” Why do I do that? When you decide to be positive even when things aren’t going perfectly it switches the mindset you have and suddenly everything in your life isn’t as bad as it could be. When you have the view that the situation in your life is so bad that it couldn’t get any worse that feeling can be debilitating. Rather choose to realize that things could always be worse ad better yet look for a solution. Sometimes the solutions do take time but choosing to be negative during those times will never help you through the issue. Instead of choosing to be positive and smile will give you added energy which you may not have thought you had.
In a post in the Huffington Post, it spoke to the fact that achieving goals and having that positivity of accomplishing things and taking action in our lives can release dopamine. In other words, when you feel sad or down or like nothing is going your way, get up, do something. When we wallow in self-pity and doubt we are allowing the dopamine and serotonin levels to dip. When we take action and achieve goals, it could be something as small as setting a goal to brush your teeth three times a day instead of two. Achieving that goal will release dopamine, also it will give you a sense of self confidence and felling important and valued will release serotonin.
Choose to be happy, it’s not just some silly life hack but it can actually be backed up with science. So smile. Choose to be happy. Choose to get up, set goals and crush them. The biggest thing though is, pass it on. Smile at someone in the store, be positive and upbeat with the cashier who is having a terrible day. Be happy, pass it on.