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Vail Perspective: You can choose to be happy

Catherine Zeeb
Vail, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado – Happiness isn’t something that just appears or disappears. It is something we have to create. We tend to wait for something to make us happy – happy when we get a promotion, happy when we meet the right person, or happy when we lose weight.

If you are not happy, then make a choice today to renew your life. The past year was a rough one for most of us. The economy has slowed, jobs have been lost and many people in the Vail Valley have moved away to find work. We have had more suicides this year than we’ve had in a long time. Things are tough all over.

Let’s be happy – even if we don’t feel like being happy. Why not? In this new year, let’s choose happiness over pain and sadness. If happiness is a choice then why wouldn’t we choose it even while things are tough? Can we choose to renew our happiness?



How do we renew when things are so tough? The thought of renewing while we are in our current situation doesn’t even seem possible. If what is happening now is not working, then it requires a renewal.

We are forever waiting for that external thing to awaken our joy and happiness. The waiting is what keeps us lacking in joy and happiness. Happiness is a choice we make and we must continue to make repeatedly – this is a part of renewal.

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If we continue to live in our unhappiness, that’s where we’ll be. Even if you don’t feel like it, you can do a few things to begin to change the energy of unhappiness.

• Smile more

• Go for a walk and put an extra spring in your step

• Meditate more

• Do something nice for yourself once a day

Doing even one of these things will begin to shift the energy of sadness – they help renew our belief in creating each day. Taking these steps will not change your sadness or the event(s) that caused your sadness, but they will begin to shift the energy around your sadness.

Practice makes perfect – the more you put yourself in a better mood, even if you don’t really feel like it, the quicker you’ll be in the mood.

When you smile the muscles in your face contract and endorphins are released into your blood stream, giving you that good feeling. Try walking around for one day with a smile on your face, even if you don’t feel like it. See how you feel at the end of the day and notice how other’s reacted to you.

Renew the way you start each day. Renew the way you deal with other people. We create each day, so renew your life today. Let this new year be the motivation to renew your life. Happy 2010 – here’s to each new moment of each new day.


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