If you haven’t been able to find a lot of happiness in your life, maybe you’re looking in the wrong place. Our level of happiness is based on our thoughts and our thoughts are a reflection of what’s in our minds. We can begin the quest for happiness by separating our memories into three separate chests.

'The Treasure Chest' of the mind is where we put our most cherished memories. We open this chest when looking for happiness, comfort and contentment.

'The Hope Chest' of our mind is for our goals and dreams of tomorrow. As each is fulfilled it is then moved to our Treasure Chest.

'The Dumpster Chest' of the mind is for letting go of the hurts and trash of yesterday. Once in this chest they are dumped, to be forever let go. Once these memories are put in the Dumpster Chest you should never go digging them out.

Our thoughts are a reflection on who we are. Happy people have happy thoughts. That doesn’t mean that the happy person never has an unhappy thought, it means the happy person knows how to move these unhappy thoughts into the Dumpster Chest and then forget about them.

If someone speaks of you and is not pleasant or someone acts and is not nice to you, it is not a reflection of you but a reflection of them. Do you think they are happy? What is in their Treasure Chest or Hope Chest that should have been put in their Dumpster Chest? How sad for them, but don’t let it affect you.
If you want to be happy, take the time to sit and think about your thoughts. Put the good ones in your Treasure Chest or Hope Chest and the bad ones in your Dumpster Chest. Focus only on your Treasure Chest and Hope Chest for they are now full of the jewels of hope and joy.

Happy people spend their effort adding to their Treasure and Hope chests while unhappy people spend their time sorting through the dumpster. If you are serious about finding happiness, leave the trash behind and become a treasure hunter.

Gary Mosher
www.bodhitreepublishing.com