Three Great Questions For Your Happiness

Life is full of challenges. When these challenges present themselves, it’s so important that you ask yourself the right questions.  Here are three good ones to keep you on the path of happiness and their counterpart questions that will keep you stuck and miserable.

What’s good about this?/ Why is Life so unfair?
When you ask what’s good about something challenging, it makes you open up to a paradigm shift. Most of us tend to lean to the negative. Asking what’s great about this forces you to search for goodness.  I recently had a disappointing experience; heartbreaking, really. I was all geared up to start a new venture and spent a lot of time preparing for it.  When it fell through, asking what was good about it really put me back on track and out of my pity party.  I was able to list many things that were good about it.

What can I learn from this?/ Will it ever work for me?
Whoa, when I asked myself this question, a lot of answers came up! I learned that big decisions need to be well thought out, not jumped into, even if on the surface it seems like a great idea. I learned that if you are doing a joint venture with someone, each persons’ vision needs to be discussed to see if it aligns with your own. This should be done in the very beginning.  I learned to look at what is really important. I looked at what I was willing to sacrifice for a future goal. This is very specific to each individual and really needs to be thought out. I learned that I don’t have to sacrifice what I love to be happy or successful in the moment.  I learned that though I’m eager to see my dreams come true, I don’t have to be in a rush.  Honestly, this wasn’t a fun process to do, but it helped me heal from the disappointment and move on.

Who else has succeeded in this?/ How could I ever achieve that?
It’s so easy to be discouraged and intimidated by other peoples’ success, when you are just starting out, or are new at something. I find it’s good practice to use successful people as examples that can include you, instead of unattainable stories that exclude you. Let their success reinforce your goal.  Most of them started out where you are.  Tell yourself if they can do it, you can do it, instead of asking the self-depreciating question of how can I ever achieve that? There are a lot of success stories out there. Pick one (not many) and follow what they have done. 

I’ll leave you with a bonus question to help you to aim and hit your target: What would I like to achieve? You need to have a clear idea before you start. Take some time to write it out, envision it and post it somewhere you can see it every day.

Here is to your happiness and success!



​