In this article: Stop waiting in the sidelines and jump into the game.
There is a common misconception in the world today that some people are born into a life that is better than others, one that gives them more opportunities to be happy and experience joy. This is something that, if true, would leave many people in the world without a hope of ever achieving true happiness.
Even the thought of that being true brings with it a great sense of sadness and despair. Thankfully, though, it is false, and we are going to uncover exactly why that is the case.
To do this, we are going to have to open ourselves up to the possibility that living a joyful life is completely within our sphere of self-influence.
This might be something that some people find difficult to imagine because most people believe their emotions are something that they can’t control. They think that they can only be happy when things are going a certain way in their lives.
For most people this is true because they have not learned how to influence themselves, their thoughts, and their emotions, they have not learned how to apply a conscious and deliberate effort to their internal state of mind to bring about a shift in their internal state.
We are going to learn how to do exactly that, but not only that, we are also going to learn about a way of life that naturally produces more joy for ourselves and other people.
Clarity Is Clear – Confusion Is Simply Confusing
If you are the kind of person who allows their internal emotional state to be dictated by your environment then yes, you will be subject to the comings and goings of people, their emotional states, and the situations that you find yourself in.
However, if you learn that you can consciously influence yourself at any moment, then you can transform your state when you begin to sense yourself sinking into some form of negativity to bring a different state of mind into your awareness.
This is done through techniques more commonly investigated in the worlds of Self-Mastery, Self-Hypnosis, and Meditation.
Once you learn to do this, you will realize that you have been allowing the world around you to program you and the way you respond to external stimuli, something that happens to each one of us as a natural result of our brains development in the earliest years of our life. The good thing about the brain though, is that it can be reprogrammed at any point through conscious and deliberate effort.
Imagine yourself as an empty slate with no personality, a blank book with no contents, or an empty room without any furniture. This is the state of the brain of all newborn children. The environments and the people within those environments will determine the kind of information that goes into that child’s brain, the contents of the book, the furniture of the room, etc. forming itself as neural pathways, solid structures, and formations within the brain itself.
Naturally, children learn that fire is hot and shouldn’t be touched, they learn that parents can feed them and protect them, and they learn that the world is big and full of amazing things to explore.
They also learn that blue is for boys and pink is for girls, that there is some celestial being governing the world, they learn to react to situations in the same way that the people around them do.
This works in a very similar way to bacteria spreading itself through the brain, reproducing the same kind of thoughts and emotions that are experienced externally by the people around them. All of this is very natural and very perfect.
A problem occurs though when the kind of information the child’s brain absorbs is negative, destructive, untouched by wisdom and true understanding.
This can cause an immense amount of conflict in the child, and most people are completely unaware that this is occurring.
Obviously, if we can see the brain, it’s habitual thought patterns andemotional responses to external situations as mere programming and not set-in-stone, then we have a hope of awakening people to the fact that, quite simply, they can change their minds.
Obviously, a child raised in a strict Christian environment will see and experience the world through the eyes of that same tradition. However, a child that was raised in an environment surrounded by criminals will have a completely different worldview and will respond to external events in a completely different manner.
Let’s look at an example of how the two children above might respond differently to the same situation. For the sake of this argument, we will consider that both the child raised in the Christian environment and the child raised in the criminal environment have completely absorbed and adopted those ways of life.
Our Christian child is walking down a street, and he sees a young woman crying. She is sitting with her head in the palms of her hands in a deep state of despair, sobbing loudly, apparently lost to the world.
She has no idea who is around her or what is happening in her environment because she is so overwhelmed by her emotions. She has a bag sitting by her side, and it looks as though she has maybe been forced out into the streets with her possessions. He walks by and sees that this woman is experiencing a great deal of sadness, he feels compassion for her and asks her what is wrong, since doing this kind of thing is a commonly held practice in Christianity, helping people in need.
She explains to him that her boyfriend has just kicked her out the house and now she is homeless and has nowhere to go. He offers to call his parents and see if they can help. The woman is overwhelmed by the fact of his kindness, and he too feels happy about helping someone in need.
Now, our criminal child is walking down the same street in a parallel reality where the Christian child doesn’t exist. He sees the same woman sitting on the same street in the same situation as mentioned previously. As he walks by her he notices the bag, he kicks the woman in the head and steals the bag, taking it back to his family who applauds him for his conviction. They find many valuable items in the bag, and celebrate the theft.
In both cases, the children feel joy, but in each case, it is due to their very specific programming. Admittedly, these were both extreme cases, but they are in fact not far from the truth of situations that are occurring at this very moment on this earth.
So, what is the point of this?
If we allow ourselves to be completely (and only) developed by the essentially random experiences of our youth, then we are carrying programming that we have no control over.
However, if we learn to influence ourselves deliberately and consciously, then we can in-fact completely transform our internal programming to suit whatever way of life that we choose to live.
The Importance Of Wisdom
Before we learn how to deliberately influence ourselves to be able to live a more joyful and happy life, it’s important to be address the importance of true and sincere wisdom.
It’s of no use, and potentially dangerous to teach someone who experiences joy for self-centered reasons, or someone who experiences joy in the suffering of others how to experience more joy in their life, the importance of not teaching someone like this should be clear enough.
Your life must be governed by honesty, sincerity, and virtue. If it is not, then the kind of joy that you experience will only be temporary and based on self-centered motives that will inevitably lead you and in most cases other people, into greater suffering.
So, to truly live a more joyful and happy life you must begin, if you haven’t already, to investigate the nature of virtue.
What does this mean?
Take the following concepts into account and do your very best to investigate them, understand them and apply them to every situation that you find yourself in…
Honesty, selflessness, charity, kindness, compassion, wisdom, understanding, courage, strength, righteousness, determination, self-sacrifice and good conduct are key.
Govern your actions by the above characteristics, and you will naturally experience more joy and happiness in your life.
Even though this is a different approach to simply altering your internal state, this ensures that your external actions complement your ability to feel more joy internally. This will also help those that you encounter to experience more joy becauseof the way you act in response to them.
Tapping Into Your Innate Ability
So, what can we do to make ourselves feel more joy? How can we deliberately positively influence ourselves? There is a simple answer to this, but as you will see, it is not something that is easy to do. The difference is that just because something is simple does not mean that it is easy. Let’s take a deeper look.
When you can control your thoughts and emotions, you can directly make yourself feel better about any given topic.
The difficult part though comes when you don’t think very positive things about things, this could be yourself, other people, or perhaps the situation you find yourself in. The remedy here is reflection and introspection.
There is one famous teaching that is always valuable – look for the silver lining.
What does this mean? It means to try to find the positive aspects of what is happening, try to find the important lesson that you are learning, or supposed to be learning from any negative situation or example that you find yourself getting stuck on.
Here are some examples to help you with this one since it can be challenging to overcome negativity.
1| You purchased a cheap car that was exactly the kind of car you wanted. It looked nice, but you had a subtle instinct when buying it that something might be wrong with it, but you ignored this and purchased it because it was exactly the kind of car you wanted.
The car breaks down, and now you fall into a state of negativity about your situation. In this case, you should reflect upon the fact that you had an innate sense that something was wrong, but you ignored it. This can be a positive experience that puts you more deeply in-tune with your innate senses. All you have to do is learn that lesson and listen to yourself more.
2| You have been exercising intensely for weeks, and you are beginning to feel a little overly tired. This is a common experience for those who participate in regular intense exercise. You go out again for your routine session, but you injure yourself, doing something that you can normally easily do because you are over-exerting yourself. Now, you get frustrated at the fact that you can’t do your exercise, you are probably going to gain a little weight and not feel as good about yourself, and this makes you even more upset.
Obviously, this is a negative state to be in. However, you can learn a lesson here to pay more close attention to your body and master your training to a higher degree by working out a more balanced way of doing things. Now, we have an opportunity to grow and be more positive.
3| Your internet drops at a critical moment in a video game you were playing, a movie you were watching or something that you were studying. You get frustrated now at the fact that it’s probably going to be a few hours before the internet comes back online and you can’t believe that this is the second time this month that it has happened.
You can turn this into a positive situation in a few ways. You can spend the time relaxing or going for a walk outside to get some much-needed exercise and fresh air. You could spend some quality time with your family and bring some joy into both yours and their lives from being in their company.
In addition, you could decide to change your internet service provider and discover that different company offers a much more beneficial deal, saving yourself some money each month and even getting a slightly faster speed with better service.
It is genuinely possible to turn any negative situation into a positive one, simply by altering your outlook.
Yes, this takes a lot of practice, and you must develop a great deal of wisdom and patience, but it is completely doable. Look for the silver lining and for lessons in all instances of adversity. This is one example of tapping into your innate ability to experience more positivity.
A Life Of Positivity Inspires A Greater Amount Of Joy
It’s an obvious statement to say that ‘making yourself feel more positive makes you feel more positive,’ but it is so simple that many people overlook the profound importance of what this statement means.
When you apply conscious and deliberate effort to your life in a way that makes you feel more joy, not only do you feel more joy because of this, but you are showing yourself that you do have the ability to influence yourself and that your emotions can be held within your sphere of influence.
You don’t have to be subject to what is happening in your environment to feel joy. You can actively make yourself feel more joy by consciously intending to and thinking in a way that makes that happen.
This is one of the most profound realizations a person can have about himself or herself, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Discovering your innate ability to live the kind of life with an abundant amount of joy and positivity will open you up to so many more potential opportunities to experience increasingly greater amounts of happiness.
Not only that, but you will become a nicer person to be around, and you will naturally develop the kind of personality and mental skill set that helps you to encourage other people to feel the same way about their own lives.
The kind of person who takes control of their lives like this can become a truly powerful force for good in the world. It is even possible to make this into a life-long career. People will pay you to teach them how to do this.
Therefore, not only can you experience great amounts of joy in your own life, you can experience even more joy when you guide other people to do the same. Can you imagine a more personally rewarding and gratifying way of life?
It truly is a wonderful phenomenon, and absolutely anyone can do it if they have the courage and strength to master their thoughts and emotions in the ways that have been outlined above.
Important Tips To Get You Started
Here are some essential tips that help you get started in your deliberate efforts to experience more joy in your life. They are simple, but as we have learned, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are easy to do.
- Learn to relax – relaxing in a situation that you find difficult to remain positive in can help you to gain greater control of your thoughts. The brain sometimes naturally reacts very quickly to a situation, and this can mean that tension and aggravation can begin to build up before we even realize it. Learn to stay relaxed consciously, and you will find it easier to remain positive during times of stress.
- Observe objectively – looking at any given situation from an objective viewpoint will let help you to remain detached enough to weigh the type of emotional response if any, would best suit your desire to remain positive.
When the brain has developed to react negatively to certain situations instantly, this can be a difficult thing to overcome. Keeping in mind that you want to observe everything from a detached, objective point of view will give you the mental space needed to approach the situation strategically, rather than egotistically.
- Practice finding the silver lining – this point is made again because you can learn how to practice this skill well before something apparently negative happens to you. You can develop this skill by reflecting on things in your past that have already occurred. Look back over your life and see if you can find some specific examples of how you reacted negatively to a situation while it was occurring, only to realize later that there was a positive side to it that came with time.
- Notice your newfound positivity – pay special attention when you start to notice that you are feeling more positive and experiencing more joy than you usually do. It is important to recognize this feeling when it comes to you because it will serve to reinforce the idea that whatever changes you have been making are affecting you in the positive way that you intended, further encouraging you to continue in the same way.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know some of the essential things that are going to help you live a more joyful life through deliberate effort, the only thing you need to do now is to get to work doing this.
If you are truly committed to this practice, you are guaranteed to see results. The speed with which you see these results are determined by how much conscious and deliberate effort you put in.
The major keys here are the conscious, and deliberate aspect.
If the amount of joy you experience in your life is determined by the random thoughts, feelings, and expressions of other people then you are failing to recognize the essential point of this entire report – this being that you do have the ability to make this happen all by yourself. At the same time, if you only experience joy when your external situation allows you to, you are a slave to the same randomness.
Imagine a life where you could tap into a genuine state of joy at the drop of a hat, just because you wanted to. Doesn’t that sound like a much better way of living? Doesn’t it make sense that if you could do this, your life could become something much more enjoyable, and much more like the kind of life that you want?
In all of my time training myself, and all of the time I have spent teaching others these skills, I have never, ever encountered someone who didn’t experience at least the smallest amount of benefit from beginning to approach their life in this way.
As long as you are prepared to stick with it, and not give up when you realize how difficult it can be at times, you will find that you have a much higher capacity to experience joy than you ever knew was possible.
After a while of retraining yourself, it will become just as much a part of your daily mindset as the color of your eyes or size of your feet. This is completely undeniable. With strength, courage, and determination you can master these skills and you will not regret it.
So get to work re-reading this report one more time to ensure that you have fully understood its contents. Do your very best to absorb and adopt everything that it suggests, and experiment for yourself, in the same way, that any scientist who wants to know the truth for themselves does.
You only have two choices here:
Let everyone and everything else dictate how you feel about what happens in your life; or
Take back your power and begin to live exactly the kind of life that you want.
You must choose to do it, as no one else can do this for you. You must own it completely and utterly, and you must forge yourself and force yourself to get to exactly where you want to be.
Good luck changing your mind and changing your life, and when you first realize that this is working out exactly as described here, give yourself a huge pat on the back and celebrate.
There is nothing more rewarding, or inspiring than unlocking your innate ability to live a more joyous and happy life through conscious, deliberate intent.
