"Be happy for no reason."

As optimistic, cheerful, and encouraging as I try to be, I do believe that we need to be mindful of ‘toxic positivity’. We cannot reject reality and prevent ourselves from processing the range of emotions that life has to offer. If we do then we create an impossible expectation for how life is supposed to be and feel guilty that we’re ungrateful when we feel bad for ourselves.

However, with that in mind, I also do believe that our perspective is our choice. And while it isn’t healthy to reshape everything that happens to us into the positive, I do think we’d benefit from doing it more often. And that’s because of the insight underlying today’s quote:

“Be happy for no reason.”

Sustaining happiness is an internal game. Ed Mylett says “You have to take you with you”, so no matter what accomplishments you achieve, it’s still you receiving them. Even if there’s a lot to celebrate, you won’t find a reason to, or feel genuine about it, if internally you’re not letting yourself see it.

So rather than trying to extract happiness from everything around you, you can choose to infuse happiness in what you do. This is what “being happy for no reason” means - you choose to be happy and create the reason rather than wait for reasons to prompt your happiness.

As an example of this concept, I saw a video an Instagram that jokingly proved this point. It’s a video about a man who chooses to believe that his partner is thinking about him and blushes when he sees she left a pile of shipping boxes on the ground, and laundry thrown about the bed.

What this video so creatively highlights is how everyday stimuli that normally feel like an inconvenience can easily be reframed to mean something else. I’m not saying that you need to be joyful doing laundry to get this working for you, but it makes you wonder - What else do we experience on a daily basis that we could choose to relate with differently, and how would that simple shift improve the quality of our lives?

In treating daily micro-moments with grace, patience, and gratitude we reroute our thinking, which prompt new emotions that impact the way we show up for everything else. So give it a try for a day. Tell yourself “Tomorrow, I’m going to be happy for no reason,” and see how you like it!