Find Happiness Within

"I am in no way a relationship expert. In fact, I don't have a lot of relationships in my life due to being let down too many times. You can say: "I have trust issues." However, I love exploring the topic of relationships because having people in our lives is essential to our well-being and success. I am learning that in order to be happy in a relationship whether it is family, friendships or romantic, we must find happiness within first. If you are happy inside, not a lot of things will bother you on the outside. You will find someone who adds to your happiness, not gives you a happiness you have never had before. You can never depend on anyone 100%. You can only rely on yourself (and God, if you are religious.) I have been struggling to find long term, for example, friendships for years. And I am finally figuring out why. I have been so consumed analyzing other people's actions like my life depend on them. NO! I am discovering that my life depends on the way I make myself happy and not how other people's words and doings affect me. I am in a total control of how I feel - not them! If right now you are struggling with having a good marriage (have been there!), finding friends (have been there!) or getting understanding from your family (have been there!), finding clients (have been there!), being respected in your community (have been there!), etc. what if you looked inside yourself first? What if you found a passion that makes you happy? What if you rewarded yourself for even little achievements you got? You can do as little as going for a walk or buy yourself bouquet of flowers. (No one ever buys me flowers. I started doing it, and it makes me sooo happy now!). Believe me, if you are a happy person, people would want to be around you, be your friend and work with you. In a busy world we live in when we focus so much on others and the next thing we need to do and the next thing we forget to take time to make us happy. And then we find an easy way of blaming others for our misery. STOP! START loving yourself today, make yourself happy first and see how relationships you want to be in get better. I am a living proof that it is possible to turn around from a grinch (I was that!) to a happy loving compassionate person in your personal life and a reliable effective team player at work. It's all starts with finding happiness inside. Will you find it?" Marina Amdream