Do you know what will make you happy? Are you SURE? Do you know your favorite way to drink coffee? How about your favorite spaghetti sauce? Again are you SURE? In the attached video Malcom Gladwell tells the story of Howard Moskowitz. You can thank Howard for much of the variety you find at your grocery store. Before Howard there was only a couple of kinds of spaghetti sauce. If someone had asked you before what kind of spaghetti sauce you liked, you probably would have announced that you like one of the two or three choices that were available at that time. You would not have said “Extra Chunky” because “Extra Chunky” spaghetti sauce did not even exist before Howard went to work for Ragu – now Ragu makes 36 kinds of spaghetti sauce! So, are you sure you like what you like? Or do you only like what you like because you are only choosing from what you know? It reminds me of the sailor from Oklahoma. If he never left the land-locked state of Oklahoma and smelled the salty air of the sea would he realize he was destined to be a sailor? How about YOU? Yes, YOU! Are you really happy doing what you’re doing? Or are you only doing it because you have never bothered to explore other possibilities? Did you know that there are now jobs that did not even exist five years ago? Go on. At least try some samples from the banquet of life before limiting your palate to only the familiar and the convenient.

~Frank Clayton, Licensed Professional Counselor

This is just one of five positives I write every day. I used to only do three but in doing research for (the free class) Happiness 101, I discovered that studies show that writing FIVE positives every day helps (even more than three ) to increase one’s lasting happiness even more. To see the rest, click here.