Some assembly required.

Snowmen fall from heaven... unassembled. - Anonymous

I thought this quote fitting given the state of my sidewalks and the streets I had to drive through this morning to get home.

When I was a kid, we lived in North Dakota for a couple of years. While the frigid temperatures might drive some mad, it was a magical time for me. We learned the value of being able to spend time outside. We learned that it's okay to go ice skating when it's ten below and the wind chill is dropping rapidly. We learned that some of the best moments are the quiet ones, watching the snow fall together, wrapped in blankets near the heat spewing from the register. We learned to appreciate the snow days... and the days that we actually made it to school.

Something that I didn't realize back then was that the tools for a good life, for success, for happiness, were already at hand. No, that's a recent development.

You see, we are all capable of making the decisions necessary to move forward with our lives. We have the tools to learn what needs to be learned to enjoy success. We all are capable accepting the past and the outcomes of the future. We all are worthy of happiness. It's a choice.

The gifts of heaven are showered upon us when we enter this world. All we need to do is use them. Yes, we are like the snowmen. And like the snowmen, some assembly is required. Thankfully, we have all the gizmos, devices, means, and implements to do the job.

Humming my way through life

We should consider every day lost in which we have not danced at least once. - Friedrich Nietzsche

I'm a habitual hummer. I can't help it. Usually, I don't even realize I've been doing it until I catch myself after some time or someone points it out. Some might consider this a nuisance. But I have to say, despite not always realizing I've started my little monotone ditties, without humming, my life might be a little less full.

Nietzsche might prefer my dancing to humming. I'm not much of a dancer, but from time to time, I can't help it. The right tune and the right mood, and before I know it, the sway of my hips gets the best of me.

Humming, dancing, singing (which I'm prone to doing in the car). All these things develop out of a personal joy that requires nothing outside ourselves, something so pure and honest, it defies explanation.

I dare you to sing or dance or hum everyday and not be contentedly happy. You don't have to be ecstatic every moment of your life to be happy. But these collections of moments over the course of a lifetime can be what defines us for the short time we are here.

It lies with you.

If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams. - Les Brown

Expanding on the thoughts of a previous post, I found this quote incredibly appealing. I've already expressed that you are responsible for your own happiness. Now, take that a step further, and what do you have?

When you realize that you are in your current situation based on your own decisions, and ending any blame that you may be placing on others' heads, you will find this opening up possibilities before your very eyes.

If you got yourself into desperate situations, you can move yourself out of them and into that which is good. Maybe you can even accomplish the things you've only dreamed of. It starts with a decision. Your decision.

What are you capable of? Do you even know?

If there were no limits to what you could do, which path would you take?

The truth of all of your possibilities lies in you. You hold your dreams in your hands. Do not rely on others to tell you what you should be, to decide what your life will be. Has someone ever told you that you can't do something, or go somewhere, or be someone? Did they also tell you they were lying to you. When someone is saying these things to you, it has to do more with the fact that they are dissatisfied with their own circumstances because they listened to someone else who told them the exact same thing. But the truth is that they are only a voice, and whether that voice carries weight is up to you entirely. It only matters if you listen to them and repeat that to yourself.

Stop saying those words, "I can't", and you find your abilities widening, the world becoming more accessible, your dreams within reach.

Be happy!

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. - Wayne Dyer

If you do nothing else of value today, do this:

1. Write on a piece of paper (or type it up, if you prefer) the words, "Be happy".
2. Put it up on a bulletin board, or on your refrigerator, or any place that is often passed by or viewed.
3. Look at it often. Say the words to yourself. Feel the words within yourself.
4. Be happy.

You cannot know that achieving success or getting married or traveling the world are going to fulfill you. But you can know that you can be happy whether you get what you seek or not. Happiness is dependent on one key component: a decision.

That's right. Deciding to be happy is the rule. It's up to you. Giving the power to be happy away to another person or to a desired object or to an abstract idea means that you will only be disappointed.

One of my favorite movies is About A Boy, based on the book by Nick Hornby. There's a scene where Hugh Grant's character is trying to prevent a young friend, played by Nicholas Hoult, from making a tragically embarrassing mess of himself on stage in the name of trying to make his mother happy. He says that you can't depend on other people to make you happy, because if they can make you happy, they can also make you unhappy.

Words to live by, to be sure.

Society, for the most part has said that the "thing" comes first, then the happiness. In essence, society has got it backwards. No, your happiness first enables these things to flow to you much less hindered.

So as you reevaluate what your happiness has been dependent on, feel free to let them go. Keep working towards your goals, but remember that your being happy right now can only move you in that direction.

So, be happy.