We all want to be happy, that goes without saying, but many of us feel like happiness is just out of our control. In fact, when talking about happiness, it's not uncommon to hear people say: “If I only had this I could be happy,” or, “If only that happened I could be happy.” But some, like The New York Times reporter John Leland, argue that happiness is a choice. Leland even wrote a book on the matter, entitled Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old. From an interview with Kiplinger.com, here’s what he had to say about happiness as a choice.
“You come to understand that the quality of our lives isn’t based in the events of our lives. It’s really in the reaction to the events in our lives. That’s a really useful thing, to realize “I don’t have control over some of the events in my life, like the weather, but I actively have a say in how I respond to the weather.” The title of the book is Happiness Is a Choice You Make, but the key word isn’t happiness. It’s choice. It’s declaring that you won’t be defined or determined by the circumstances of your life. You have a say in this. That declaration is liberating. That liberation is happiness. Happiness isn’t just the thing you choose; it’s the act of choosing it that makes you happy.”
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