I am sharing a message I read recently by Maria Shriver.
My desire is that you enjoy it as much as I have.
“Maria’s Message”
I was shooting a story this week for the Today Show (it airs Monday) on the pursuit of happiness. I interviewed two young guys who set out across the country to talk to the happiest people in the United States. And what they found was pretty simple: They found people who believed in gratitude, who relied on community and who consciously decided to choose happiness.
Choose happiness…
Direct yourself — your mind — towards that goal. I like that because it means that happiness — positive well-being — is actually within our reach. It’s in our power.
That’s huge. Because that means every day we can get up and decide to look at the gloom and the doom or we can redirect our thoughts, shift our outlook, and look towards the good.
As one expert I interviewed (she airs Wednesday) said, “It’s like going to gym. You have to work for it.” Just like you can decide to pursue a healthy body, most of us can chose to pursue healthy thoughts.
On this holiday weekend when we celebrate our independence as a nation, I think celebrating the fact that we have the freedom to chose happiness is also a cause for celebration.
Now, I know millions struggle with depression. Other face sickness that can surely rob us of joy. Every day people confront grief and loss, but what these guys and others found is that very often people who go through really hard times, who face what seem like insurmountable issues, come out the other side and experience joy, and yes, happiness.
They choose it.
A friend of mine said to me not too long ago: “Look, everyone is fighting for happiness and you really do have to fight for it.”
Sure, some lucky people are just born happy. God bless them, but most of us have to fight for it. Most of us have to fight through stuff, and the good news is that most of us can get there if we decide it’s a priority worth fighting for.
Our forefathers and mothers fought for freedom in all areas of their lives and they believed that the pursuit of happiness was worth fighting for as well. I know that being grateful, being part of a community, giving back as much as you can, it all helps push us in the right direction.
But knowing that everyday I get to make my own happiness choice is a gift.
On this holiday, which I’m blessed to be spending with family and friends, I will choose happiness and will be, as always, so grateful to live in the greatest country on Earth.
Thank you to all those who fought to make this land what it is and all that continue to do so. God bless America. Land of the free home of the brave. #PassItForward
With love,
Maria
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responding to Nancee’s thread Like many men & women… I truly enjoy Maria Shriver… I have recently been enjoying her site very much…
I particularly enjoy the article you’ve chosen!(smile) It makes some great points…like this one: knowing that everyday I get to make my own happiness choice is a gift
Thank you Nancee for the positive reinforcement… that most all of us need reminding of…on some occasion(:
Happiness is a wonderful choice, it is as if we allow our true nature to come out from with in and have a voice and it shouts “Hip Hip Hooray let us celebrate the gift of the day”!!
“Happiness blooms
in the presence of self-respect and the absence of ego.
Love yourself.
Love everyone around you.
Love everyone in the whole world.
Know that your own life is of infinite importance,
as is every other life.”
Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“Happiness is the experience of loving life. Being happy is being in love with that momentary experience. And love is looking at someone or even something and seeing the absolute best in him/her or it. Love is happiness with what you see. So love and happiness really are the same thing…just expressed differently.” Robert McPhillips
“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.” Buddha
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
There’s no such thing as fiction. Our experiences are constructed within our own imagination. What we believe iz possible iz what we’ll experience. The life we’re living now iz only imagined in some of the minds of other infinite parallel versions of you.
The way to happiness is: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, give much. Fill your life with love. Do as you would be done by ~ Guatama Buddha
Anything that anyone gives attention to, becomes true
Beautiful thread Nancee!! I enjoyed reading all of the posts!
Thank you!!
“Radical Acceptance is the ability to face hardships with greater love and deeper awareness.
Contemplation shapes radical acceptance as a way to choose love and peace over anger and despair.
Begin by finding this within ourselves before helping others.
