What is happiness?

What is happiness? This can be a very loaded question. When I think about happiness, I think...what truly makes one happy? Is it money, power, a job, looking a certain way, love? I believe that we all have our own definitions of what makes us happy, however I also know that we also think about what we 'think' will make us happy (a trap that I fall into often).

So many times you hear someone say: Oh, if I can lose 20 pounds, then I'll be happy. Or. If we get married, then everything will be perfect and I'll be happy. Or, if I can just make $30K more than what I'm making now, I won't have to worry so much about making ends meet and I'll be happy. Or if we can have a baby, then life would be complete and we'll be happy. And the list goes on. But the truth is, 9 times out of 10 if you're thinking that if one of these things occurs that you'll instantly no longer be unhappy...you better think again and start looking at the root of your unhappiness. In other words, what's holding you back from being happy.

On the reality show, The Biggest Loser, contestants compete to see who can lose the most weight. And if you've ever watched the show, you know that the contestants' transformations are much more than losing weight and getting healthy. Many, if not all, of them are dealing with demons that they may or may not be consciously aware of at first, but once the realization hits it's time to go to work to remove those demons. Sure, they can take the pounds off, but in order to really transform and heal they need to remove the emotional weight as well.

Going back to my previous post, where I said that I've done a lot of personal inspection into who I am (who I've become), I painfully became aware that for me to be happy then I need to do some cleansing on the inside. Because I'm learning that as the emotional weight (baggage) gets lifted, the happier I become. Now I'm not saying that within a few short weeks that I've found all of the answers and am doing cartwheels because I found my happiness. However, step-by-step I'm finding my inner peace and I know that once I'm able to be rid of the emotional weight that everything else will fall into place. I've put my faith in God that He will guide me throughout this process and won't let me fail.