.thanks.

I have so much in my life to be grateful for, it's crazy.

church.friends.family.food.christ.atonment.
strawberries.blueberries.hotchocolate.
warmbed.creativity.clocks.showers.sweaters.
thecolorpurple.pools.cars.phones.dance.singing.
trials.lessons.poetry.flowers.beauty.thesky.flannel.snow.
rain.sun.cold.heat.utah.idaho.
memories.pillows.chapstick.football.socks.raspberries.
efy.girlscamp.fans.sunglasses.
jeans.adversity.school.roadtrips.pumpkins.sleep.dreams.
personalprogress.instagram.
pinterest.joy.acceptance.fall.summer.spring.winter.
mints.fires.books.music.stripes.balloons.snowcones.
sleepovers.cookies.shoes.roses.daisies.pictures.videos.pajamas.movies.
stickynotes.ribbon.crayons.


My life is full of wonderful blessings.  But some of the things I am most thankful for are the hard times I have been through and the people who have brought hard times into my life.  I may not have known it then, but every one gave me strength, acceptance and taught me something I did not know about myself.  I am grateful for every single aspect of my life.  I wouldn't change a thing.

Happiness.

Happiness.

It's a peculiar thing, isn't it?
It's contagious.

Invigorating.

Priceless. :)

But what really IS happiness anyways?

I looked it up in the dictionary and it stated that happiness is a state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intent joy.

Well, I guess that explains the basics behind happiness.

However, when I think of happiness, that's not exactly how I would define it.

 Happiness is not always a state of well-being.

In fact, happiness can come when you are in the hardest situation of your life.

When everything seems to be going against you.

Your self-confidence can be below 0.

School?  It could be going better.

The way things are going with your social life could be greatly improved.

And yet, somehow, happiness can still show in your life.

I would define happiness as a choice that you make.

You have the power to control whether you are happy or not.

I've learned this the hard way the past couple of weeks.

Lets just say...they weren't the easiest or most pleasant times of my life.

And then...I stopped.

Stopped letting the world beat down on me.

Stopped believing I wasn't good enough.

Stopped holding onto hard feelings.

Stopped letting how other people view me affect how I view myself.

See, all the hard things were still going on in my life.

School was still stressing me out.

Friends were still driving me crazy.

And I obviously could have used more sleep.

But I could still be happy.

By allowing myself to ignore all the hard things in my life, it became easier to focus on the good things.

To focus on all of my many blessings, which I have more than my fair share of.

So, do you see what I'm saying?
Happiness, it's not some prize to be won by having your life going perfectly.

It's the joy that is brought by overlooking all that isn't going perfectly.

You can be happy at any point in your life as long as you have the desire to be happy.

"Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you but what happens inside of you!"
-President Harold B. Lee