"Make it harder to be down: make it easier to be up."

We are defined by the choices we make.

All actions are a result of choice, and who we are and how we're perceived by others is a direct result of our choices. Whether to laugh or yell, run or stay, remain faithful or cheat.

It's a common phrase we often find ourselves using "It's too hard" or "I can't handle it." That's because we've made it too easy for ourselves to give up. Imagine if we rated our choices on a scale of 1 through 10, 1 being easy and 10 being very difficult. Most people get to around a 2-3. If the task becomes too difficult, that's the point in which they give up and say "I tried, but I gave up." We have defined how we think about failure, and we have therefor defined how we think about success. Most people have a success scale of of 1 - 100,000. People constantly reach for happiness, but seldom do we allow ourselves to enjoy it because of our belief systems. What I'm trying to say here, is we make it too easy to fail, and harder to succeed. This should be the polar opposite. What if we reversed these scales? What if you could reach happiness in 10 steps? And you could only reach absolute failure after 10,000? It would be pretty difficult to feel bad when you know you're succeeding most of the time! Here's the real kicker though - most of the time we are. But we just need to realize it. Every success should be weighed, but so often to allow our misfortunes to have greater hold!

So, why do we punish ourselves so? Why can't we allow ourselves to accept success and shift our energies into a more positive mesh? Because somewhere along the way you've formed that belief. You've formed the thought that "I can be happy when ______" (You fill in the blanks). Believe me, most people have a long list!! "If only I could have this and this and this, THEN I would be happy!" Again, look at the scale method. If 1 equals sadness, and 10 equals pure and unstoppable happiness, then you need to reduce the amount of steps it takes to reach that feeling. Did you know it only takes 1 thought to change how we feel? Both emotionally and physically? We've just taught ourselves the only way to be happy is to overcome multiple obstacles first.

Everyone is going to have different beliefs and thoughts. Remember, the scale method is really just a metaphor for you to use in conjunction with your beliefs and thoughts.

Make it harder to be down.
Make it easier to be up.

-Jacob