An indisputable fact in positive psychology is the “happiness set point.”

The idea is how happy you are depends more on you and less on your circumstances.

They investigated people who went through life-changing situations – some good, like receiving a windfall, and some bad, like losing a limb. At first, your emotions are out of control. But over time, things calm down.

The ups and downs of success and the pain of loss eventually fade away.

For some people, this is terrible. It means that you are stuck to feel that way forever!

Right …?

No, because you are thinking it backwards. If your happiness is on your mind, that’s great! Your mind is something you can control.

And that’s what’s so comforting about the happiness set point.

Sure, circumstances tend not to take it too far from its normal setting.

But it is not waterproof.

What happens in your mind is much stronger than what happens outside of it. So sure, winning the lottery might not make you happier for long … but what is cash compared to the power of your mind?

Happiness is your birthright, literally. When babies are healthy, fed and loved, they smile. It’s their default setting – unless there’s a problem, they’re happy.

We tend to lose that as we get older. Most people are not happy all the time, so we learn to do the same to fit in.

But you can unlearn that and re-learn your native joy.

Because the same rules that babies follow apply to you too. Unless there is a reason not to be, you will be happy.

So why aren’t you beaming all the time?

You have probably learned to focus on problems.

To dwell on your past mistakes and misfortunes.

And to the load on the future.

You may have done this so subtly that you never even realized you were doing it.

I was unconscious.

Now you know.

And bringing unconscious thought into conscious awareness is a definition of enlightenment.

But your work is not done. What remains is for you to focus on happiness.

To make this the goal of your affirmations.

Allow yourself to feel bliss and joy once again.

It is not easy to unlearn a lifetime of bad mental habits. Okay, because the process is simple. Affirmations can be as easy as writing down what you want every day.

And through constant attention, conscious practice can overwrite your unconscious patterns.

You can drop all the luggage and feel your natural state of happiness.