I am a bit behind in sharing my quotes. We did have a couple of good ones the past two weeks:

“Happiness is the place between too much and too little.” (A Finnish Proverb)

and

“It better were within, better would come out” (Simon Patrick)

These quotes tie nicely into what we have been talking about all year around here. The idea of our thoughts being the most important thing to concern ourselves about as they lead to our feelings, actions and results in our life.

I borrow from “The Model” as Brook Castillo refers to it as (love how this woman teaches things).

The Model is as follows:

CIRCUMSTANCES: we all have a certain set of circumstances in our life – which are usually out of our control. If we can change them, they are very slow to change, but often they are unchangeable. For example, who are family is, what the weather is like, what happened to us in the past. Despite the reality that our circumstances are our of our control (or at least very difficult to control), we often lament them, or get stuck in them, or think about the unfairness of them, or become victim to them – but really, they are what they are. Suck it up buttercup. (Maybe a little too harsh, but it is what it is)

THOUGHTS: Our thoughts are what we do have complete control over. What we think about our circumstances. Positive thoughts or negative thoughts. What we tell ourselves. The stories we make up about ourselves and other people. We have full control of our thoughts. And since we think upwards of how many thoughts per day?? I’ve heard 60,000 referenced – then it DOES make a difference if we are controlling them  and choosing positive ones or negative ones.

FEELINGS: Our thoughts basically dictate our feelings. If we are feeling low, then we can often link it to a negative thought. If we are feeling good, then chances are we have some good thoughts coursing through our brain. If we want to feel better – then we need to change our thoughts. Sounds simple – and for sure it can be oversimplified (and of course there are mental illness issues that aren’t as simple – but this is a place to start – in addition to getting the appropriate support that professionals can offer to help cope with more complex issues) But basically thoughts lead to feelings.

ACTION: Depending on how we feel, we will take action or non action. We will do or we will not do.

RESULTS: Our results are the final outcome. If we do – there is a result. If we don’t do – there is a result. If you don’t like the results you are getting, many people will turn to blame the circumstances, but the reality (in pretty much most cases I can think of) has to do with something going wrong in the middle stages. And they are all linked together. You can take a result and see how you got there based on your actions or non actions, and know that what you did or did not do  as based on how you felt, and see that you felt that way because of a certain story that was going through your brain….

So, when it comes to happiness and where you find it? Happiness is the result (or could be the feeling) Either way, it is not caused by your circumstances.  It’s all tied to your thoughts – and in this case, your thoughts about too much or too little.

If better were within, better would come out  – if you have better thoughts, you will get better results (and be kinder all around too).

Simplified version, but the truth is, most things are pretty simple. We complicate them by creating the drama in our thoughts….