The most significant trend I’ve noticed is that when people are unhappy, they like to place blame on something else. As a society, we’ve become obsessed with chasing happiness. We’ve tried to bottle it up and sell it. Some tell others they have “the secret to happiness” and sell them some gimmick we know will leave them open hours later to the next trend. 

*I’m unhappy with my job because my boss is emotionally draining. 

*I’m not happy where I live because I can’t meet anyone new.

*I’m not as happy in this relationship as I thought I would be.

*These new clothes make me look good, but still don’t fulfill me.

Whatever it is, we quickly become dissatisfied and then begin pursuing the next trend. Today is your lucky day because I will reveal the true secret to happiness for FREE. Why would I do that? Everyone has the innate right to be happy. The big secret? It’s been YOU the whole time. You are what needs to change and not necessarily change who you are, but change your way of thinking. 

Your mindset has been tuned to detect negativity. Think about it like this. When you watch/read the news, it’s pretty much ALL negative, from murders, natural disasters, poisoned politics, diseases, etc. Therefore, our harmful to the positive ratio for the world is incredibly skewed. Finding something positive in the news is so rare that they have special segments for them (“Kindness Corner”). Hence, we are so touched when we see a positive news story. 

The truth is good things happen all the time. We are just impacted more by negative events. Naturally, those take more of a toll. On the bright side? We have the power to control our focus. We can choose to focus on the negative or the positive. It’s not to say we should ignore negativity altogether, as we still need the truth. However, you can control the dosage and ratio in comparison to positivity. Follow more positive accounts on social media, watch something else, monitor news intake, etc. Take the necessary steps to help change your frame of mind.

So next time you feel like quitting your job, moving across the country, breaking up your relationship, or returning new clothes, check your positive-to-negative ratio intake. You’d be surprised how this simple shift of mindset can affect your happiness.