The Choice Is Yours

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We have been sold the idea that happiness is a destination, something outside of us that must be earned, reached, or acquired. We were told that if we study, work hard, build a family, succeed, and accumulate possessions or status, happiness will follow. Yet for most people, it doesn’t. Or if it does, it appears briefly, only to fade again.

Most of us have tasted happiness in moments: falling in love, achieving a goal, buying something new, receiving recognition, or feeling healthy and secure. These moments can feel powerful, sometimes lasting days, months, or even years. But they change. Circumstances shift. Something is lost. And happiness feels just out of reach once more.

The mistake is not in enjoying these moments, but in confusing them with happiness itself. Pleasure, excitement, health, and success create emotional highs, not lasting happiness. If your happiness depends on something outside of you, it will always be temporary and fragile, constantly vulnerable to change and loss.

A Zen master once said, “Every morning I ask myself one question: do I choose to be happy today or miserable? My day is simply the answer.” Simple, yet profoundly confronting.

Happiness is not a reward for a perfect life or for the right conditions at the moment. It is a decision. Not the denial of pain, but freedom from being controlled by it. It is choosing awareness over resistance, presence over fear, acceptance over comparison, and meaning over distraction.

This choice is not easy. We live overstimulated by noise, fear, expectations, and endless distraction. That is why choosing happiness is only the beginning. It requires daily inner work, honesty, and courage. The same is true for love, peace, joy, and everything else. They are cultivated from within, not discovered outside.

To be happy, you must be at peace. To be at peace, you must love yourself. And to love yourself, you must stop trying to be who you think others expect you to be.

So, how long have you postponed happiness, waiting for something outside of you to change? At every moment, we are offered the same choice: to live trapped in struggle and resistance, or to live free in peace, joy, love, and happiness.

Happiness is not the destination. It is the way you walk, right now. The choice is yours. And if you do not choose consciously, life will choose for you.

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Author: Maurice "Mao" Correa
Website: pathtoone.com
Blog for Articles: pathtooneblog.blogspot.com

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