Happiness – Choose Your Reactions

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In my last podcast, I spoke about how happiness is a choice.

This week I get the chance to put my money where my mouth is. My wife left on a business trip on Saturday and she doesn’t return until late next Friday night. That means that for seven days I am a single-parent to a five year old and a two year old!

Talk about Living the Power of NOW!

When I was speaking with a friend of mine recently she said, “I don’t know how you do it. I’d go crazy after a couple of days.” The truth is, I’ve had practice. This summer my wife was sent to China for 10 days and in the month of November, she has three trips that have her gone for a total of 15 days.

But instead of focusing on the fact that I’m outnumbered by little people who have way more energy and persistence than me – I choose to focus on the fact that I’ve been given the gift to really spend some with my kids and be fully present to their lives.

I’ve seen too many people who view parenting as yet another item on their “to do” list and for the most part, that attitude is reflected in the way their children behave.

Now don’t get me wrong. When I’m running the show alone, there can be some crying at my house. There can be yelling. And there can be tantrums. And the kids have had some rough times too! But when things get too crazy, I just remind myself that I have a choice about how I react. And I always choose happiness.

And you want to know an amazing side-effect of choosing happiness? It seems to rub-off on the kids too! I’ve found that when I’m more relaxed and happy about things, the overall mood in the house is relaxed and happy. Which means that when the tears come over a toy that isn’t being properly shared, they tend to disappear quite quickly. It’s as if the kids understand that they too can choose to be happy or not.

ENJOY NOW!