If you are breathing, you deserve happiness. Now, I don’t mean this as some political human right or some new-agey “soul” right. I also don’t mean that we deserve to always be laughing like fools. I don’t even mean that we deserve a perfect world or a world free from suffering, because that would not actually make us happy.

If we remove the suffering in this world, people will still be unhappy (take an overstressed businessperson or a depressed wealthy child for instance). But if we create happiness, THAT will remove the suffering. Happy people do not go around creating more suffering. A happy world becomes a world free from suffering.

Happiness creates a happy life, not the other way around. You have the freedom and the ability to be happy right now. It is the deal we make with the universe before arriving on the scene — that life will be hard and we will endure tremendous loss, but our capacity for love and joy will be limitless.

Like every animal whose simple existence is enough, so too are we. To be alive is to deserve happiness as much as every other living being. If a monkey can be happy with no possessions, surely we smart humans can find a way to be happy without Lamborghinis.

If we start with happiness, we can strive to be better while loving ourself. We can work as hard on our most dreaded chores as we do on our favorite hobby, and both can feel like a joy. It just first takes realizing that we deserve it, we’re worth it, and we can do it.

From time to time, we may mistakenly think we are unworthy, undeserving, unspecial, and don’t deserve happiness. But I want to tell you that you are a marvel of the universe. (Watch this video to rediscover your true and infinite worth)

When we don’t think we deserve happiness, it’s usually because: 

1. We have unresolved regrets, guilt or shame.
2. We struggle with bad habits, addiction or a lack of discipline.
3. We believe other people’s opinions or our own negative voice in our head.
4. We feel there’s too much suffering in our lives or in the world.
5. We feel unseen, neglected and alone.

In this podcast, I share how we can start the process of making peace with our past, peace with ourself, and peace with the world as it is.

Here’s what I would like you to do:

1. Leave sticky notes around the house reminding you to check in and see, “What the heck was I just thinking about and was it helpful in any way?” When we make self-awareness a habit, we stop making ourself suffer needlessly.
2. Set phone reminders reminding yourself that there is absolutely no reason why you cannot be happy right now. Nothing is stopping you but you. We can be worried and stressed, or calm and optimistic in any circumstance. When we realize happiness is a choice, the choice becomes clear. 

Do these things religiously every single day and you will start to notice the entire world reflecting back at you the value of yourself that you are projecting. The more you practice, the more it works.

Much love,
Todd

PS – Money may be the root of all evil, but it’s also the root of paying my rent and putting food on the table. So how do we have a healthy relationship with money? How do we succeed without all the stress? How do we work hard without the burnout? Where is the line between dedication and workaholism? And, is workaholism even such a bad thing? I answer all these questions in my latest YouTube video.