Sometimes it seems like humans place our happiness everywhere else but in the present moment. We even get to the point where we acknowledge that we are miserable and then tell ourselves, “I just have to get through these next few months of misery, then I’ll be happy” or “I’m so sad now but as soon as I can just have this relationship back, then I’ll be happy.”
I used to wholeheartedly believe that I would become my happiest as soon as I acquired my dream job, was fully complete with school, had a fantastic group of girlfriends, and married to my high school sweetheart. The more I traveled through life and the more conversations I would have with people who DID have their dream job, and had their best relationship, etc, the more I saw that these people weren’t even happy.
In fact, even when I think back to being with my high school boyfriend, or having a good group of girlfriends, I still always felt like I needed more. That was when I realized the most fundamental concept that would forever change the way I perceived life and chose to live it.
Happiness is not found in the hands of the lovers washing each others’ hair in the dark in the middle of the night, nor is it found in the hands of the brokenhearted; happiness is simply in the minds of whoever dares to put it there.
It’s so cliche to say, “happiness is a choice,” but the more I hear it the more I realize that cliches are only cliche because they have been proven to be true time after time.
Our brains are simply the most powerful tool in the entire world; thoughts become things and we have the ability to go through every single emotion and choose to accept it, reject it, or change it.
We acquire happiness not by looking into the future or looking into the past and longing for whatever it holds; we acquire happiness by sitting in this moment- the one that is happening now.
We acquire happiness when we meet ourselves where we are, forgiving ourselves for where we have been, and having complete and utter faith in where we will go.
We can choose to be happy in this, and every second, by looking around us and letting gratitude seep through our bones, by being thankful for the health of our loved ones, and for every working muscle and limb in our very own body. We choose to be happy by being grateful for all that is going right rather than wrong, and honoring the space of all that has yet to unfold.
We can choose to be happy by getting fascinated by life, by creating and caving into our passions and lusting for the things we want to experience.
We choose happiness by being present, by choosing faith over fear and reminding ourselves that everything is temporary.
Happiness is a state of mind, not the product of circumstance.
Happiness is not an end result, it isn’t the place that comes after a rough patch and it doesn’t come when in love either.
Happiness is right now, in the sky, in the sand, during that phone call with your mother, it’s in the iced tea, and the sunshine. Heck, it can even be in the trees while you rush to your last final. Happiness can be wherever we choose for it to be, so do yourself a loving gift and place it in your mind first. 
