HAPPINESS

You Are as Happy as You Think You Are

A Man’s as Miserable as He Thinks He Is (Seneca)

What are thoughts?

- Thoughts are ideas or images we make about things in life and in the world.

Thought power is a force, a resource that we can create or develop and use with the help of thought.

Thought power is a resource that has had great significance for humanity, but it is at the same time a very neglected resource.

Thought power has not always been used for what it is worth. Even in everyday life, the thought power of very many people is not used well enough.

It is the individual — yourself — who is responsible for your own happiness. Not nature. Not society. Not your family members. Not the others.

Thoughts and the power of thought are important forces in human life. How we think is of great importance for how our lives are lived and experienced. We can think positively, preferably fundamentally positively, in the way that we try to find and focus on positive things in our lives and in the world.

The word of wisdom that inspired me to write this had a more pessimistic, slightly negative approach to the topic:

A Man’s as Miserable as He Thinks He Is (Seneca)

We can think positively, and with the help of thinking power we can build ourselves up and reach for the light.

Conversely, we can think fundamentally negatively; we can be insecure, suspicious, we can be scared, we can be helpless. People in crisis are often there.

Thinking power can help us change the way we experience life. The power of thought can be the tool that can help us to reverse such a negative development as negative thinking is in our lives.

The power of thought can help us so that we can stand upright and manage to give our lives a direction that we are happy with.

The fact that we feel weak and helpless often means that we feel insecure. Therefore, security is an important prerequisite for living a life where we think positively.

We can work our way into a negative spiral where we, without realizing it, slip into a world of negative thoughts. Alternatively, we can try to bring about a positive development and with the help of thinking power try to combine everything we know about living a good life in friendship and love. That is when we can come into a good flow zone and let the good things come to us, instead of fighting uphill and upwind.

Tools for turning it into something positive:

Focus on what you yourself have control over.

I have control over this:

• Myself
• What I say yes or no to
• My thoughts
• My actions
• My judgments

Øivind H. Solheim is a novel author and a nature photographer from Norway who loves writing fiction, poetry, essays, and articles helping others understand life, other humans, and themselves. He has published six novels, two non-fiction books, and a poetry book.

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