Choosing Happiness

by Don Harkey

Andy Andrew's had been dealt a bad hand. His parents had died when he was just a teenager. The blow was just too much and Andy spiraled down until he found himself homeless and hopeless. Why did this happen to him? Why did some people have so much luck while others had so much hardship?

Andy had a lot of time on his hands so he went to the library. He searched for answers to his questions by reading autobiographies of famous people. He tried desperately to read past the words on the page to understand why these people had been "chosen" to be successful. What was so special about these people?

Over time, he found his answer. Life hadn't chosen these people... they had chosen life.

Andy learned that successful people didn't necessarily have an easy path to success. In fact, it was often the opposite. It was how these people had overcome the twists and turns of life that really caught his attention. He found that these people had made seven conscious decisions in their lives over and over. These decisions include:

1) The Responsible Decision - Choose to accept responsibility for my past and for my success.

2) The Guided Decision - Choose to seek wisdom in the challenges that God presents to us.

3) The Active Decision - Choose to a person of action.

4) The Certain Decision - Choose to have a "decided heart" and not let criticism, condemnation, or negativity bring me down.

5) The Joyful Decision - Choose to be happy.

6) The Compassionate Decision - Choose to have a forgiving spirit as no one is "out to get" me.

7) The Persistent Decision - Choose to faithfully persist without exception or doubt.

These decisions are outlined in Andy's books "The Traveler's Gift" and also in "Mastering the Seven Decisions". Today, Andy is extremely successful. He has a family, has published several books, and works as consultant. He has spoken at the request of 4 U.S. Presidents and has been called a modern day Will Rogers.

The point is simple. God put us all on this earth and He controls everything. Yet He has given us the power of choice over what to do with our lives. We can choose to be victims of life's many challenges, or we can choose to gain wisdom and strength from those challenges and live everyday with a purpose.

Its your move!