Happiness is a choice?!?!

I was just reading a friends blog.  She made a comment about making a choice to be happy. 

Choosing happiness?  Hummmmm

Sure there are times in my life where I have been happy, I have been sorrowful, made, filled with joy. 

But I guess I have not stopped to think that I indeed have the power to choose how I feel.  To take all those outside influences which shove their way into your emotional state, and cast them away.  Make a choice to be happy. 

I look back at my last two years here in Texas.  When we first got here, I was thinking this will be an adventure, something new, a good "growing experience".  I soon came to the conclusion that I was NUTS!  I had no idea what I was thinking, how in the world could I be happy in Texas. 

I would have done anything to pack up and move back home.  Home = Utah, Home = Riverton, Home = Happiness.  You know, HOME, the place where I moved to when I was eight years old, HOME that place that has twisted it's way into my heart in such a way that leaving was painful.  HOME, where everyone has the same unique accent, where they understand the joys of odd things like fry sauce.  HOME, where the culture might be a bit odd, but familiar and enjoyable none the less.

But along the way, my intense desire to move back home began to fade.  I started to have strange thoughts and feelings that maybe, just maybe, I could stay in Texas for a little while, a short while.  And somehow be okay with that.  Maybe not happy with Texas, but okay with it.

Then comes this idea that I can choose to be happy.  Happy in Texas.  Happy where ever life leads.  It is within my abilities to make this happen in my life.  Which will also be reflected in my childrens lives. 

For someone who does not deal with change well, this is something I need to embrace.  Let go of outside influences and make a choice within myself, a choice of happiness.