This is my first post. I decided to talk about happiness. On my first go of it, I ended up writing a nine page article about happiness. Way too long!! So I shortened it a bit. Actually I threw it out. I was asked this question the other day. “Why are you so happy?” Being the kind of person that I am, I tried to come up with a well thought out intelligent answer. The answer that came out was “Attitude”.

There is nothing in my life that has really changed in the past 5 years. Except for a few more kids, nothing else is different. Before I started my quest to be a better person, I used money, alcohol, and sex to try to catapult my happiness. I am not going to lie to you, it worked. While I was doing those activities I was happy as a pig in mud. I mostly strived for money. The more I made, the happier I was. I bought a ton of things. I bought a huge house, a huge vehicle, a ton of toys. Yes, all of that made me happy in short run, but I forgot to do one thing. I forgot to THINK.

In the process I was working 80-90 hours a week. I lost my wife, never spent time with my kids, I could sedate an elephant with the amount of depression medication I was taking, and I could not find an acid reflux medication that would take care of what was going on in my gut. Sometime I will tell you about my episode while I was in traffic on a hot summer day. It was the defining moment that made me change.

So here comes my two cents. God has given you the freedom of choice. You can choose to be an ass, or you can choose not to be an ass. Very profound, right? Well. Fortunately it is that simple. No magic pill, no deep profound meaning. Just choose not to be an ass. This is what I did. I was going through life always looking at the negative sides of things. I concentrated on everything that was bad in my life.. Poor me!

When I decided to change, I would wake up in the morning and try to convince myself that a had a wonderful mental attitude and I was a positive happy person. I went to work with a smile on my face. I was happy with everyone. What a crock. I did not believe it for a minute, but I kept doing it because I was reminded by all the audios and books I was listening and reading to. People like John Maxwell, Tony Robbins, Earl Nightengale, and Og mandino that I was in a pattern. The pattern of my choice was anger and negativity.  I was in that patteren for most of my adult life. I was an idiot and that was who I was. If you didnt like it, you could go to hell.

To break that pattern, I had to create a new pattern, so I kept going. Very slowly, it started to work. I started to get compliments on how happy I was and how I made other people feel good. That was very new to me. It felt tremendous. The more positive I was, the better I felt. So you are saying to yourself, “Well I am glad that works for you, but that won’t work for me.” Now do you understand what I mean by Attitude?  Your stinks! You need to work on a positive mental attitude. It will work for you. It is going to take you awhile to convince yourself, but it will work.

You also need to listen and read positive self help material and stay away from everything negative. I don’t watch any news or read the paper. I don’t listen to people that complain all the time. I fill my mind with every positive thing I can get my hands on. I have a book and audio section to help you out. I also have a laughter section. Laughter is a wonderful way to happiness. Here are the books and audio that I recommend"

John Maxwell:
The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset

Tony Robbins (I reccomend the audio):
Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!

Earl Nightengale (Audio)
Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret Millennium 2000 Gold Record Recording

Og Mandino
The Greatest Miracle in the World

Sonja Lyubomirsky
The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want

I always reccomend Zig Ziglar. Here is a link to his free Podcasts:
Zig's Podcast