PRINCIPLE 2, YOU CAN BE HAPPY!

The Second Principle of Self-love is to see that you can be happy.

The natural state of every person is happiness. It is just that we let wrong thinking cloud our minds to this fact and warp our feelings and ideas to make us feel sad and angry and fearful.

The only exception would be people who suffer from a chemical disorder in the brain that prevents happiness. These people need medical help in unison with the secrets of happiness that Humanism offers. Nevertheless it is normal to be happy but if the disorder cannot be entirely cured they have to accept this for their own good. Nature does not always respect normality.

Happiness is not found in any person or thing for it is innate and all you have to do is let yourself experience it. It is part of you. It is there for the taking because it is already there and is just suppressed. Only you can make yourself happy. Nobody and nothing can get you down unless you let them or it. Even when it is impossible to feel good this remains true because you learned the habits that made it impossible over time and it will take a lot of un-learning to be free.

The proof that all you have to do to be happy is to decide to be is that when you find joy in God, people and things it is your judgement of them based on your intelligence, perception and your feelings that gives you the joy not them. It is just you using them for thrills. It is all you and about you. When it is all you to start with, it can be all you - period!

It is important to know that the prize of happiness is inside you for it encourages you and shows that there is every reason to be hopeful of attaining happiness.