“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” 
―Abraham Lincoln

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 
―Dalai Lama

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” 
―Albert Camus

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. Whether they want to lose weight, save more money or use less social media, resolutions are made and then usually broken shortly after they are made.

With that said, and this isn’t a resolution, but rather a goal or an outlook on life is just to be happy. Now I know that sounds strange, but as I was reading through another blog-“Los Angeles In The Wild,” (https://inthewildla.wordpress.com) and Julie (the author), says the following, “I believe happiness supersedes everything. For every decision, I always make sure my happiness could weigh on my decisions. All year, people have questioned and challenged me that happiness simply can’t be my root motivator — it can’t be everything. Happiness can’t pay the bills and that’s true. All year I confronted these challenges and as I am about to compromise my happiness for “something better”, I come back  to find out happiness is the only driver, my only engine life in my life.” 

These are truly words of wisdom!

When I have heard people say things like this in the past, I used to think that in order to have this type of mindset you had to be pretty selfish. As I have thought about it more, and seen the results of that type of thinking, I am now a true believer in making life choices that contribute to my happiness. In my view, to spend time making sure that every other person around me is happy (work or at home) at the expense of my own well being is not productive. Of course you have to do things that will make your life easier in a professional sense by making your boss happy, but in the end, you need to be happy. The same goes for your family.

So Julie mentions these mantras. Not resolutions, mind you. You don’t have to come out and say, “My New Year’s resolution is be happy (or happier).” These are just simple tips to put you in, and keep you in the proper frame of mind to be happy. I found them to be very helpful in developing a road map to being happy and staying sane!

Here are the mantras that Julie lists in the following post-

https://inthewildla.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/motivation-monday-happiness-wins/

• Be happy. Be bright. Be you.
• Always look on the bright side of life.
• Do more of what makes you happy.
• Find joy in the journey.
• I am charge in choosing how I feel and I choose happiness.
• Happiness can exist only in acceptance.
• If you want to be happy, be

These are words to live by, not make resolutions with!

Happy Hiking!!!