Since I started this site I have had a few people tell me, “I like what your doing, but I have no time to be happy. I have to pay the pills and make dinner for my kids. I can’t worry about making myself happy. I have to concentrate on what is important”.  That statement surpises me and yet it doesn’t.  A lot of the influences we hear tell us that to worry about ourselves and our own happiness is selfish.  We are taught to  ‘put others before ourselves’.  So why is being happy so important? Why should we spend so much time worrying about what makes us or others happy?  Well we could look at the scientific facts that have been mentioned in the media so often.  A positive attitude helps us live longer,  boost our immune system, heal from injury quicker.  Even if you have no interest in living a longer healthier life, although I am not sure who wouldn’t, happiness is still more important than most of us realize.  It reduces our stress levels and allows us better to face the challenges that always pop up at the most unexpected times.  How often we regret reacting to a mild irritation in a severe way just because our thoughts were already focused on some other trouble.  It leaves hurt feelings and turns another situation from bad to worse.  If we do our best to keep our thoughts focused on the joy that life offers us and adding more to our lives, then we shall see situations as they are.  For those of you that are familiar with the Law of attraction, which states like attracts like.  It should be apparent why being happy is so important.  If you are happy you attract more happiness into your life, if you are unhappy you will be more likely to be faced with negative situations again and again.

So if we are busy focused on our own happiness, what should we bother worrying about others happiness?  Well, recently that was shown to me in a dramatic and tragic way.  A wonderful co-worker of mine took his own life a few days ago.  When such an event happens we are always left with the same questions “how could I not know?”, and “What could I have done?”.  Truth is, most of the time there is nothing we could have done, and no way we would’ve known.  In this case by all accounts this gentleman was filled with good humor and had a real zest for life.  Which stresses the importance even more.  We never know what is going on in someones world.  So consider that when dealing with the cheery lady at the coffee shop, or the grumpy cashier at the grocery store.  We are never sure when someone may need that genuine compliment, or sign of gratitude from us.  How important can happiness be?  It can be a matter of life and death, for both ourselves and those we care about.