Greetings ladies and gentlemen. This is Brad H. coming back at you all once again, and welcome to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back to hopefully provide some perspective and inspiration for those of us that may be lacking in certain areas of our lives. I hope that all has been going well for everyone as of late. Always be grateful if things in your life are going well, because we all know how quickly things can change. If you've been dealing with some tough times or hardships recently, just keep on trying to make things better for yourself. Just like things can quickly change for the worse in life, they can also change for the better in an instant as well. Anyway, it is good to be back on here for another week. In the last topic that I covered, I talked about the NBA Playoffs that were just beginning at the time. We are nearly two weeks into the playoffs, and a nightmare that I didn't want to see happen came to fruition a few days ago. My San Antonio Spurs were defeated 4-1 by the Golden State Warriors. I'm being a bit sarcastic with the nightmare reference. As I mentioned in the previous topic, I expected the Warriors to win the series despite being a Spurs fan. The Spurs were just over-matched without having their best player, plus being without Coach Popovich after the passing of his wife just made it more of an uphill battle for the Spurs. While I'm at it, I want to extend thoughts and condolences to Coach Popovich and his family. I don't know the man personally, but he is one of the greatest coaches that we've seen in sports. Life related tragedies such as this take precedence over sports. Back to the Spurs; I just love how the team fought to the very end. It was just a reminder of why I've been a fan of this team for so long. There are likely going to be some changes with the roster over the summer, but I'm still proud of them. We still got a couple of series left in the first round that are going on, so we'll have to see what happens in the upcoming days. I do know that the New Orleans Pelicans vs. Warriors series should be a good one. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the playoffs so far. I know that I definitely have been despite the Spurs losing. Well I think that is enough soapbox talk for now, so lets go ahead and get into this week's topic of happiness and external factors and possessions.
As I normally do before covering the topics that I bring up at hand, I'd like to go ahead and give the standard disclaimer that I mention. We all have different views and outlooks on life. The goal with these topics isn't to focus on what is considered to be right or wrong, but rather to encourage others to open their minds up to seeing certain things in a manner they may not have before. Think of this as a hub for inspiration that can inspire forward thinking. Now with that said, I'm just a regular person with an opinion, so I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I'm all about us all being able to get our thoughts out there, and through the process of doing this, we can hopefully learn from one another. As I mentioned in the last topic, I believe that none of us are too big to learn from other people. As for some insight into why I chose this topic, I would just contribute it to recent thoughts that I've been having about how our society deems what is happiness. Most people talk about how happiness is a choice, which I generally agree with for the most part. However, there are many out there that don't share in that sentiment. If it were the case that they did believe that happiness is a choice, then so many of us wouldn't tie happiness to material items and possessions. If happiness is truly a choice, a person would probably be able to feel some form of happiness regardless of what they're dealing with and their circumstances. So with that being said, I figured it would be a good week for me to address my thoughts on this. I believe this is something that many of us already talk about to begin with, so I guess I'll go ahead and add my perspective on here.
Now you may happen be this kind of person, or you've probably found yourself around a person like this, but how many situations have you either said or been around someone that frequently talks about how unhappy they are with their life? Since I believe that we're living in a time where most people aren't happy, I'm willing to bet that most of you have been in situations of this nature. Now in saying that, I want to let it be known that despite me having my own personal beliefs on what happiness is, I'm not implying that any single person should be happy all the time. I understand that things happen in life so quickly that can cause a person to not be happy. Regardless of how happy a person is or seems to be on the outside, every single one of us have moments in our lives that can challenge our levels of happiness. I believe that this is all a part of the cycle of life and how we endure obstacles that are similar to the highs and lows of a roller coaster. Now, while constant happiness is unrealistic for the most part, what is a reality that most of us cannot deny is what I mentioned earlier. The general standard of what happiness is in our society often deals with accolades and possessions. Does everyone think this way? Absolutely not, but we all know that a lot of the reasons why so many people are unhappy with their lives deals with not having certain things. This can be anything from lacking money to lacking the love of a significant other in your life. The basis of why most of us as a people are unhappy comes from something(s) that is lacking in our lives, and these things are often external things. When you really think about it, this way of thinking shouldn't even be all that surprising in a world where most people are trying to keep up with what everyone else has, and there within lies the problem from my perspective.
I've stated this before on here, but because so many of us compare our lives to other people, we often tie our happiness in with what we're seeing from them. In other words, we base our happiness on a false premise of what we see from others. Many of us look at other people that are doing well, and we assume that they must be happy. However, it is always wise to be mindful of what you see on the outside isn't always the truth. Yes it is indeed true that a person can acquire possessions and wealth, but they can also be hiding the fact that they are miserable on the inside as well. Again, the acquisition of wealth and accolades is good, but these are things that can come and go. If we already know that these things are often temporary, then why do we put so much of what we think is happiness into them? Again, this is how our society has been conditioned over the years, and the reason why I address topics like this is to help encourage people (and myself) to realize that following what everyone else or society doe isn't always beneficial to your own PERSONAL life. The reason I put emphasis on the word personal is because only a person can truly know what is good or bad for them, and often what society encourages isn't always what is good for us personally. Anyone is capable of having happiness in their life if they learn to appreciate what they already have, and not be so concerned with what is going on with other people. This practice of constantly following what others do in my opinion is much of the reason why we lack happiness in our lives. Pair that with thinking that external factors and possessions are going to lead to happiness, and you'll find a world that has a lot of unhappy people. This is why I feel that it is important to not tie in happiness to external things.
What exactly do people mean when they say that happiness is a choice? From my perspective, it goes back to what I mentioned earlier which is the belief that a person can have happiness despite whatever circumstances they're facing. You probably don't really need a truckload of money to be happy if you have enough to take care of yourself. You probably don't need a big fancy vehicle to be happy if you have a perfectly working vehicle that gets you where you need to go. You probably don't need a ton of accolades and accomplishments to be happy if you have a good heart and treat people with kindness and respect on a daily basis. See where I'm going with this? It all boils down to perspective and how you see yourself. Even if you don't have much in the aspect of possessions, you are probably a rich person if you have family that care about you. If you have a true friend that you know without a doubt is loyal to you, then you are rich. I believe that it is the things in life that don't have any monetary value that brings us the most joy. I believe this is something that our society has gotten away from, which is why so many of us are unhappy with our lives. I want to encourage anyone who reads this that feel like they are lacking happiness in this lives to reevaluate the things that mean the most to you. Think about your relationships and interactions with others. Instead of always looking at the glass as being half empty, try and think about it being halfway full. Think of and appreciate all the good things you got going on in your life instead of all the thing that are wrong. Instead of looking at what you may be missing, take a closer look at what you already have. I think that if we begin to implement these habits, then we can get to a healthy median of happiness in our lives. That's just my perspective on it.
Well I think that I've said enough on this topic, so it is time to go ahead and bring this to a close. This has been another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective', and I want to give thanks again to those of you that came by once again. As I always close with, I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that was able to be gained from this. If anybody has any feedback or concerns, please leave those in the comments, or you can hit me up on my Twitter handle @BradrickH. Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far, and I hope that you all have an even better week ahead. We'll be in the month of May the next time I get on here, so lets try and enjoy the rest of April. Again, I hope you all enjoys the rest of the weekend, and I'll see you all for the next topic. Take care everyone, and stay encouraged! Peace out folks!
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