We are what we focus on.
You can put two totally different people into the same environment and life situation where they get bombarded with external challenges and struggles and yet, both will handle these situations differently. It is our own perspective and view of the world that shapes our overall happiness and life experience.
Shawn Achor (you can look him up) once stated that even if you know all the external factors of a person’s life and his circumstances, you can only predict 10 percent of his overall long-term happiness in life.
When this is true, why is not everybody happy?
It is what and how we perceive our external world and finally how we interpret the situation, that determines our general happiness. Your view of the world is only an abstraction and can therefore be interpreted however you like. The map is not the territory.
- You can change what you focus on.
- You can change how you want to interpret the situation at hand.
- And you can decide how to act upon it.
But first of all, you have to make yourself conscious that you have to tell your brain – in all its details – what you value the most. You need a clear outlook in life. You need clear values and dreams. Only when you keep your vision close in front of your eyes, your brain is able to look for the necessary steps to make them come real in your external world.
Have you ever tried this? Imagine the last time you bought a car and later you saw it everywhere. These cars have been there before, but you have not yet realized them, because they had no VALUE to you. Now that you have bought one of that type for yourself, your brain now knows that this is something you value and therefore it must be important. Your brain works for your, it is your tool. You just have to use it properly.
Once you know what you have to look for, the next step that determines the quality of your life experience is the way you interpret the situation at hand. I am pretty sure you know people who will always find the upside of something. Whatever they get into, they always seem to find something great about it. Also, you might know people who will always find something to complain about. It is our own decision how we interpret our current situation.
(But generally a more positive outlook helps you to cope with your life’s challenges more easily, so why would you not adapt this kind of attitude for you?)
You decide.
