Diary of a pure positive mind

Happiness is a matter of focus

Happiness is all about focus. Last week a smart colleague of mine inervened when I talked about my happiness, stating: “You only think you are happy, because you don´t realize when you are not”. From her perspective my positive focus seems to be illogical.

I really had to laugh. I know that a very positive attitude is always meeting with criticism and I get what they mean, but still… I asked her: “you are accusing me of being happy, just because I don´t let all the hard facts in?” I get what she´s saying but I also don´t get it. The reproach directly adresses to the basic requirements of happiness: positive focus.

I think of the opposite view straight away. There were many times where I watched others and it seemed, they are happy but they don´t realize it. Imagine a person, getting up in the morning. It feels too early because the person has to go to work. Maybe it´s in the winter and it is still dark outside. The person might be thinking about problems of the world, might have issues with relatives and diseases. Maybe the person has a back ache. Now I see this person walking along with a colleague laughing at his jokes. I think instantly: Wow this is a happy moment. Somebody made you laugh. You are in this existence…capable of so many things. You got poeple who look after you. You got a job that pays you and you got a lot of free time you can do whatever you want. Isn´t that amazing? We are so free.

Now you can see what side you are on. Can you feel into that? If not: you are not alone. I´ve got the impression that societys prevailing mood is gloom. We get trained into negative focus and are used to it. But you can easily replace that thinking once you know that. Of course you can enhance your thinking also with my method, by changinge the ratio positiv to negative thoughts as mentioned in the how it works section.

A fun experiment I´m doing is “seeing it through the eyes of former generations”. It helps you focus on positve achievements and your advantage compared to other generations. It is a fun thing to do and makes me laugh so many times.

Last week I´d imagine to take my forefathers to the ATM at lunchbreak to buy a salad, avocado and strawberries at the market. I was standing at the ATM pretending to have a conversation in my mind: “Now look, I just shove that card thing in there and then I push some of these little nubs and then money comes out”. My greatgreatgreat grandmother seems to say: “But how? Is that machine making money?”. Me: “No. It is actually my money. There´s other people keeping money for me so I don´t have to carry it around”. Granny: “But how do they know how much money you have? And is this really YOUR money”. “Too hard to explain now. You might think it´s magic, but it´s not. They know the exact amount I´ve earned and they fill these machines with money …they are all around and I can take this money out wherever I want.” Granny just can´t believe it. “And yes. It´s my money. I earn a lot of money.” “But why do people give you so much money…you work 20 hours a week and you almost always leave on time. You are just a mother with no husband and three kids”. “Yeah granny. Great society these days. I studied many years and society values my work…you can be very lucky these days if you were able to study or learn something you like. Lets get some of these perfectly red and sweet strawberries and some salad.” I move on explaining my greatgreatgreatgrandmother what an avocado is and where it comes from and she is filled with wonder.

It is a fun experiment and helps to mentally get away from these tiny little things that don´t work. To focus on the positive will make you happy. Of course it works better in better mood, but never forget: Mood and thoughts are interacting all the time. Thinking more positively wil make you have a better mood after a while. Just try it!