Ever look at your favorite leader or mentor and think they must be happy all the time?

I do. I think it's so easy to look at someone who is high up, in a respected position and think their lives must be perfect. It wasn't until this morning that I heard something that made me think otherwise. I was listening to one of my favs, Gabby Bernstein, and she was talking about how everyone has bad things happen but your happiness is tied to your comeback rate. For example, let’s say you over sleep and are late for an important meeting or you are cut-off in traffic. How fast can you process it and turn it around by consciously choosing happiness over negativity?

For those of you who read my, 1-2-3 Maui...Get Present, post I like to think of it along the same lines. How fast can you tune in (“1-2-3 Maui”), realize you are unhappy, then decide to see your situation differently.

Happy or enlightened people are simply more tuned in to the present. They stop themselves when they start to veer off course and they redirect by choosing again. They choose to be happy because they know happiness is a choice. They realize that they have the power to see their situation differently.

Before you think: “well lucky for them”, please realize we ALL are lucky! We all have the same power to choose again every second of every day.

Instead of overreacting to simple problems like finding you're out of coffee (panic attack, I know) just STOP. Breathe. Choose again. Simply think how can I see this differently? How can I choose happiness over negativity? Maybe you've been eyeing a new coffee shop that you've never gone to and this is your sign to splurge and try it out. Maybe there's someone that you are meant to meet at that coffee shop. Who knows?! Whatever the situation may be, know that the power to be happy lies within you.

How freeing is that?!

Anyone do this already? If not, try it out. How did it go for you?