Happiness is a choice

• Happiness is not by chance, but by choice. Jim Rohn
• When you have a choice, choose happy! Pancho Barnes
• Happiness is a choice. Choose to be happy. Tia Mowry
• Happiness is what you choose to remember. Jodi Picoult
• I make positive choices so I can be happy. Hayley Williams
• I’ve realized that being happy is a choice. Angelina Jolie
• Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. Aeschylus
• People are just as happy as they choose to be. Abraham Lincoln
• Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life. Omar Khayyam
• Whether your life is happy or not is your own choice. Nick Vujicic
• You must choose between your attachments and happiness. Adyashanti
• Happiness is your choice. You can choose today. Gabrielle Bernstein
• I want to live the way I choose. It’s all about happiness. Brett Dennen
• Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln
• You choose happiness. You don’t wait for it to choose you. Bethenny Frankel
• Gratefulness is a practice, just like happiness is a choice. Russell Simmons
• Some people CHASE happiness. And some people CHOOSE happiness. Robert Holden
• Happiness is a choice; not just a matter of genes or good luck. Karen Salmansohn
• If you’re not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice. Jennifer Aniston
• One can choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. Viktor E. Frankl
• Happiness is the best revenge, you know? Just be happy. It’s a choice. Emily Giffin
• You can’t hold on to a grievance and be happy. Time to make a choice! Robert Holden
• You don’t need a reason to be happy…your desire to be so is sufficient. Wayne Dyer
• Happiness is a choice. You have to choose it – and you have to fight for it. Drew Barrymore
• Happiness is your choice to make. How happy or how miserable do you want to be? Edgar Cayce
• You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it’s your choice. Gordon B. Hinckley
• No one can grant you happiness. Happiness is a choice we all have the power to make. Dean Koontz
• You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Anais Nin
• Are the choices you are making going to really make you happy NOW or happy eventually? Robert Holden
• The way to choose happiness is to follow what is right and real and the truth for you. Oprah Winfrey
• What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. Leo Buscaglia
• Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. Ralph Marston
• The more you retrain yourself to choose happiness over fear, the more blissful you will be. Gabrielle Bernstein
• Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. Marcus Aurelius
• Happiness is a choice. You grieve, you stomp your feet, you pick yourself up and choose to be happy. Lucy Lawless
• Make the choice that you want to be happy. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to other people too. Richard Koch
• Choose to feel happy about whatever the situation is, knowing it will ultimately be to our benefit. Chris Prentiss
• Happiness comes when we choose to be who we are, to be ourselves, at this present moment in our lives. Jean Vanier
• Choosing love will bring you great joy and great happiness – that happiness is a choice you make. Gabrielle Bernstein
• Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself especially how you choose to think about your situation. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• I am an eternal optimist. Being happy is a choice. And you can make that choice every day, if you want to. Brittany Murphy
• The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering. Miguel Angel Ruiz
• In life, one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for some special day-or to celebrate each special day. Rasheed Ogunlaru
• You have the choice. You can choose joy over despair, happiness over tears, action over apathy, growth over stagnation. Leo Buscaglia
• As you live out your desolation, you can be either unhappy or happy. Having that choice is what constitutes your freedom. Milan Kundera
• Appreciation and gratitude are a must if you choose to become the architect of increased happiness and your own fulfillment. Doc Childre
• When you get up in the morning, you have two choices – either to be happy or to be unhappy. Just choose to be happy. Norman Vincent Peale
• I believe the world is as we choose to view it. Simple as that. Our happiness is, in the end, up to us, and to no one else. Susan Fletcher
• You have to take an active role in making yourself happy. That’s why I say happiness is a choice. Because you have to choose it. Shay Carl
• Let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible. . . . For this is the way of happiness. Plato
• Be happy. Be yourself.  If others don’t like it, then let them be.  Happiness is a choice.  Life isn’t about pleasing everybody.  John Spence
• Happiness and high come to you when you choose to live your life consistent with your highest values and your deepest convictions. Brian Tracy
• I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between. Sylvia Plath
• To have a happy ending, choose a happy moment and call it ‘the ending’. Honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune. Mahatma Gandhi
• Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. Helen Keller
• Happiness is always there. You just have to choose to see it. There’s no point dwelling in the dark and ignoring the light of the stars. Carrie Fletcher
• If we choose the right, we will find happiness-in time. If we choose evil, there comes sorrow and regret-in time. Those effects are sure. Henry B. Eyring
• It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about. Dale Carnegie
• You have a choice everyday… You can choose every morning whether you will be depressed and miserable, or whether you will be happy. Norman Vincent Peale
• Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. Denis Waitley
• I’m choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I’m making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises. Elizabeth Gilbert
• No matter what’s happening, choose to be happy. Don’t focus on what’s wrong. Find something positive in your life. Thank God for the small things. Joel Osteen
• Happiness is not a feeling, it is a choice. To be happy, one must choose to be happy, not respond to a circumstance that now controls your happiness. Joyce Meyer
• Happiness is a choice I am making now. Once we understand that and find love consciousness, we learn that this place of internal plenitude needs nothing. Isha Judd
• Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There’s going to be stress in life, but it’s your choice whether you let it affect you or not. Valerie Bertinelli
• Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its finite resources as you process the world. Shawn Achor
• Happiness is always a choice. You can’t wait for circumstances to get better. You have to create your own good fortune. So look for ways to be happy every day. Joel Osteen
• Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
• Balance is to choose happiness, to feel that the purpose of life is to love, not necessarily to be loved, to be happy, to be conscious, to be aware, to be fulfilled. Frederick Lenz
• I can make choices that make me happy, and it will ripple and benefit my kids, my husband, and my physical health. That’s hard for women to own; we’re not taught to do that. Michelle Obama
• If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you. Paramahansa Yogananda
• Enjoy life. Have fun. Choose to be happy now; don’t wait until you’re ‘successful,’ because honestly, I was as happy when we were unemployed and scrounging around for a buck. Peter Farrelly
• We have two choices in life: One is to fulfill ourselves. The other is to take the time and energy that we would utilize in fulfilling ourselves and use it to make others happy. Frederick Lenz
• Master said if you want to be happy no one in the world can take happiness from you; if you want to be unhappy, no one in the world can make you happy. So choose to be happy. Goswami Kriyananda
• There has to be a moment when you choose happiness, when you stand up, raise your face towards the sun, and just grab joy and put it in a place where no one can ever take it away from you. Kris Radish
• I think happiness is a choice. If you feel yourself being happy and can settle in to the life choices you make, then it’s great. It’s really, really great. I swear to God, happiness is the best makeup. Drew Barrymore
• The way to choose happiness is to follow what is right and real and the truth for you. You can never be happy living someone else’s dream. Live your own. And you will for sure know the meaning of happiness. Oprah Winfrey
• If you could be happy, really happy, for just a while, but you knew from the start that it would end in sadness, and bring pain afterwards, would you choose to have that happiness or would you avoid it? Gregory David Roberts
• Sometimes we miss happy because we’re always looking for something else. We worry, we give in to fear, we compare ourselves to others, we’re planning and plotting, but happiness is here, it’s a choice, day to day. Cathy Lamb
• I think happiness is a choice. I believe luck is your attitude. It sounds like a really annoying bumper sticker. But there is such a great truth in that. You choose how you want to feel about what happens to you. Drew Barrymore
• It’s so much easier to be happy. It’s so much easier to choose to love the things that you have, instead of always yearning for what you’re missing, or what it is that you’re imagining you’re missing. It is so much more peaceful. Meryl Streep
• I think the difference between finding happiness, or moments of happiness, is how you choose to interpret things. That’s a rather shocking responsibility. That we’re responsible for our own happiness. It’s not those around us. Natascha McElhone
• Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations. Tom Brady
• Each time we make this shift and choose happiness, we experience a miracle. Our mind shifts from fearful delusions and reconnects to our truth, which is love. Creating these shifts requires a dedicated commitment to choosing love. Gabrielle Bernstein
• It is your choice to be happy. Make up your mind to enjoy this day, to have a blessed, prosperous, victorious year. You may have some setbacks and your circumstances may change, but don’t let that change your mind. Keep it set on happiness. Joel Osteen
• It’s not that life has been easy, perfect or exactly as expected. I just choose to be happy and grateful no matter how it all turns out. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
• Whatever you choose for yourself, give to another. If you choose to be happy, cause another to be happy. If you choose to be prosperous, cause another to prosper. If you choose more love in your life, cause another to have more love in theirs. Neale Donald Walsch
• There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we instead choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? I appeal as a human being to human beings; remember your humanity, and forget the rest. Bertrand Russell
• Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you. Joel Osteen
• Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it. Kevyn Aucoin
• The business of being happy requires making a conscious choice. People think being happy will just happen to them someday, if only they do this or that right. But it doesn’t – you have to choose it. You choose happiness, you don’t wait for it to choose you. Bethenny Frankel
• Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don’t find happiness, you make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings you the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run. David Leonhardt
• I absolutely think that happiness is a choice. One of the most potent forces in human psychology is the power of habit. Do something, think something, often enough and it will become the only thing you can do or think. Choose to be unhappy and soon that’s all you will be. Live in a swamp and you’ll grow webbed feet. Nicholas Evans
• The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice…it is a positive attitude we choose to express. It is not a gift delivered to our door each morning, nor does it come through the window. And it is certain that our circumstances are not the things that make us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never laugh again. Charles R. Swindoll
• Being happy is the cornerstone of all that you are! Nothing is more important than that you feel good! And you have absolute and utter control about that because you can choose the thought that makes you worry or the thought that makes you happy; the things that thrill you, or the things that worry you. You have the choice in every moment. Esther Hicks
• There is really no reason to suffer. The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer. If you look at your life you will find many excuses to suffer, but a good reason to suffer you will not find. The same is true for happiness. The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering. Miguel Angel Ruiz
• So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment. We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude. Thomas S. Monson

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…a conscious decision you make

• Happiness is a decision. Michael J. Fox
• Happiness is a decision I must make. Marianne Williamson
• The key to happiness is the decision to be happy. Marianne Williamson
• Who decides whether you shall be happy or unhappy? You do! Norman Vincent Peale
• Happiness is not a destination or an experience. It’s a decision. Carlos Santana
• When we decide to be happy we accept the responsibility to bring happiness to someone else. Maya Angelou
• Happiness is attractive. Once you decide to be happy, you attract great things into your life. Robert Holden
• Make a firm decision: ‘Whatever happens, I will be happy. I will be strong. God is always with me.’ Mata Amritanandamayi
• Decide to be happy, knowing it’s an attitude, a habit gained from daily practice, and not a result or payoff. Denis Waitley
• Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections. Gerard Way
• Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections. Gerard Way
• Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Brian Dyson
• Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Chris Hadfield
• Choose your life’s mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness or misery. Jackson Brown, Jr.
• If you do not decide to be happy, very few people can make you happy. If you decide to be happy, very few people can make you unhappy. Robert Muller
• …decide for yourself what makes you truly happy and then organize your life around it. Write down your goals and make plans to achieve them. Brian Tracy
• Happiness and unhappiness are not primarily created by the material world or the physical body. First and foremost, they are decisions of the mind. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
• Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment. Goswami Kriyananda
• Love is pretty much a decision anyway. Just like happiness. You can decide to either love someone or not, be happy or not. The rest is just commitment to the idea. Caprice Crane
• There is always going to be pain. There is always going to be pleasure. But what is not always going to be there is balance, happiness. That is a personal decision. Frederick Lenz
• If you want to be happy, you have to be happy on purpose. When you wake up, you can’t just wait to see what kind of day you’ll have. You have to decide what kind of day you’ll have. Joel Osteen
• Happiness is the DNA of pleasure. My point is simply this: Pleasure comes from something on the outside. Happiness comes from within. It’s a state you create by choice. It’s a decision. It’s an act of will. Robin Sharma
• Feeling sorry for ourselves is the most useless waste of energy on the planet. It does absolutely no good. We can’t let our circumstances or what others do or don’t do control us. We can decide to be happy regardless. Joyce Meyer
• Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you. Ralph Marston
• Happiness is a decision, not an experience. You can decide to be happy without what you thought you needed in order to be happy, and you will be. Your experience is the result of your decision, not the cause of it. Neale Donald Walsch
• Be happy. Decide to be happy. If you want to be happy, be happy! No one cares if you’re happy or not, so why wait for permission? And did it really matter if you had been deeply unhappy in your past? Who but you remembered that? Amity Gaige
• It might sound trite, but happiness is a decision not a destination, and my choices now are all based on whether not a particular action will get me closer to my goals. It’s something I’m quite ruthless about, and it helps me avoid the aforementioned wild goose chases! Suw Charman-Anderson
• Expect the best; convert problems into opportunities; be dissatisfied with the status quo; focus on where you want to go, instead of where you’re coming from; and most importantly, decide to be happy, knowing it’s an attitude, a habit gained from daily practice, and not a result or payoff. Denis Waitley
• When we decide to be happy we accept the responsibility to bring happiness to someone else. Some decide that happiness and glee are the same thing, they are not. When we choose happiness we accept the responsibility to lighten the load of someone else and to be a light on the path to another who may be walking in darkness. Maya Angelou
• Usually we try to figure out what we think would make us happy, and then try to make those things happen. But happiness isn’t circumstance-de pendent. There are people who have every reason in the world to be happy who aren’t. There are people with genuine problems who are. The key to happiness is the decision to be happy. Marianne Williamson

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Joy is a choice

• The past is gone, the future is not here, now I am free of both. Right now, I choose joy. Deepak Chopra
• At every moment of our life, we have an opportunity to choose joy. Henri J.M. Nouen
• Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing– sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death– can take that love away. Henri Nouwen
• It isn’t what happens to us in life that creates our joy, but rather how we respond to what happens in our lives. Debra Ford
• We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there… It is important to become aware that at every moment of our life we have an opportunity to choose joy… It is in the choice that our true freedom lies, and that freedom is, in the final analysis, the freedom to love. Henri Nouwen
• Joy springs from within. No one makes you joyous; you choose joyfulness.
• Being joyful is a choice. Jonathan Jackson
• Busy is a choice. Stress is a choice. Joy is a choice. Choose well.
• You are the cause of your own joy or your own misery. You hold that power. You are your own friend and your own enemy. Swami Satchidananda
• Joy is a decision, a really brave one, about how you are going to respond to life. Wess Stafford
• We have a choice at every moment. We can engage in sadness, anger or fear or we can choose joy, love, and peace. Jude Bijou
• Pain comes like the weather, but joy is a choice. Rodney Crowell
• Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. Joseph Campbell
• What are the proper grounds for joy? Is it circumstance which will determine the stature of my spirit? Ah, no. It is choice. It is always a choice – in the face of any event – for joy. Mary Anne Radmacher
• Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it. Kevyn Aucoin
• We can’t choose our lives, but we can decide what to do with the joys or griefs we’re given. Paulo Coelho
• Your joy, your happiness, your satisfaction and your ability to dance with life, depends solely on what you pay attention to. Susan Jeffers
• We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. Kahlil Gibran
• Our destiny and ultimate fate depend upon our daily decisions. . . .Tomorrow’s joy or tomorrow’s despair has its roots in decisions we make today. Joseph B. Wirthlin
• The world we live in is the world we choose to live in, whether consciously or unconsciously. If we choose bliss, that’s what we get. If we choose misery, we get that, too. Tony Robbins
• Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. Joseph Campbell
• There is no need to ever wait for joy. My joy does not depend on reaching or achieving certain goals. I don’t have to graduate from college to feel joy, nor do I need to be married to feel joy. I needn’t postpone my joy until I’ve retired or reached a certain level of success. Joy is a state of mind, arising from realization and gratitude, accessible to me at all times. I never wait for joy. I choose joy in this very moment.