About

Purpose

The purpose of this Movement is to inspire people around the world to experience life differently through individual choice. It is not true that happiness is bought, earned, or that it exists metaphorically or literally at the end of a rainbow. Happiness is a choice.

Disclaimer

(This is not a competition with The Happiness Project nor was this directly inspired by it or Gretchen Rubin, in general.)

Reality

While it is true that happiness is a choice, it isn’t some magical X that turns your life into everything you want or expect it to be. Choosing happiness is a moment-by-moment human existence effort that is universally available. It is about rising above any moment and the associated feelings, reactions, or thoughts, and liberating the real you.

Happiness Everywhere

The world is full of books, resources, gurus and games that will help you find / hold onto / improve your / X happiness. It’s just not true that these things are actually doing that. There is nothing wrong with keeping a record of positive experiences in your life. If you enjoy that, do it or keep doing it. There is nothing wrong with taking care of your physical body, setting and achieving fitness goals, or transforming yourself through eating differently. None of these things create or provide for you this thing we call happiness. You do.

Reason

the Choose Happiness Movement (tCHM) was started not to debunk or disrupt any other happiness venture, religion, philosophy, or culture. It was started to challenge people to think about what it means to them [individually] to be happy, and then to remind them to make the choice to be happy. While it can be a singular experience to Choose Happiness, it is not something that you do not have to work at reinforcing or transforming, as necessary. It is something you must be intentional and persistent about, even beyond X days.

Someone can tell you how to be happy; how to experience ongoing happiness—as we are doing now. :). However, do not believe that

• IF you get the higher paying job THEN you will be happy, or
• IF you lose X pounds THEN you will be happy, or
• IF you break the habit of smoking Y cigarettes a day THEN you will be happy.

You choose to be happy—Choose Happiness—before, during, and after these types of experiences; all experiences. Imagine if your goal is to lose X pounds within Y months, and you convinced yourself that if you just do that then you will be happy. What if you don’t lose the weight? What if you lose more than your goal? What if you meet or exceed your goal but re-gain the weight? Your happiness will be at the mercy of your actions or inactions, and you will waste precious energy in pursuit of something that was always there.

Choose Happiness When You Believe X

This idea is universal to the human experience. This choice is made alongside of and never in competition with culture, philosophy, religion, scripture, or spiritual teachings. It is just as simple and important for an Atheist as it is for a Christian as it is for a Jew as it is for a Muslim, etc.

• You believe in X? Great! Happiness is your choice.
• You believe in Y? That’s wonderful! Choose happiness.
• You believe in Z? Very cool. You get to decide to be happy.

Choose Happiness When Tragedy Strikes

Admittedly, there are tragedies far worse than divorce, bankruptcy, vehicle repossession, home foreclosure, physical disabilities (your own or someone in your care), mental disabilities (your own or someone in your care), job loss, attempted suicide, pancreatitis, and a heart attack. Each of these things happened to me. Through these experiences, I felt sad, cheated, defeated, lost, angry, confused, hopeless, worthless, among other things. And while feeling feelings that did not “make” me happy, I waited for miracles, random acts of kindness, answers to prayers, the Money Tree to bloom, etc. in order to “find” happiness. For me, none of these things occurred. And I chose—not unhappiness but—to wallow in misery, weigh others down, complain, and beg the Universe to “fix me” into happiness.

Choose Happiness When

Inspiring and empowering people to make a simple choice with profound implications, and spreading this message through fun and functional products.

What will you choose?

I choose happy. I feel happy. I am happy. No matter what.

Life is hard. Life sucks. But you don’t have to be sad or down or depressed or angry. No matter what is going on in your life, you can and should choose to be happy. In this way, you will feel something most people miss. You will elevate yourself to a life experience that is higher, more powerful, and more meaningful than ever before.

Happiness everywhere. You don’t need everything to go your way to be happy. You can lose a loved one and be happy. You can contract a terminal illness and be happy. You can experience trauma and be happy.

You get one life to live. Do it with a smile. Be happy. Always. No matter what. If you slip, calibrate.

I feel angry, but I am happy. I am experiencing a traumatic event and I am feeling scared, but I am happy.