“Be ready?!?” you may be saying, incredulously.  “Of course I’m ready to be happy!  I’ve been ready my whole life!”

I know.  It seems ridiculous.  The pursuit of happiness.  We are taught from the time we enter the world that the pursuit of happiness is our life’s ambition.  Love, marriage, kids, work, money and consumerism are all allegedly in the pursuit of happiness.  It’s even in the Declaration of Independence!  So, being, as we are, so steeped in pursuit of happiness culture, who could possibly still need to be ready to be happy?

The truth is, more people than you might expect are not actually ready to be happy.  Being truly, authentically happy means shaking things up.  It means redefining your belief structures, your relationships, your understanding of the world, and your understanding of yourself.  It means letting go of a lot — letting go of things that are holding you back.  You may be really attached to these things (or people), but it won’t change the fact that they’re holding you back.  It means letting go of negativity, drama, grudges, hurts and attachments.  It means pulling yourself out of destructive patterns and cycles.  It means attaining a higher level of self-awareness and wisdom and applying both to your life in a very real way.  Generally, it means you will be different.  The world won’t look the same, and you won’t look the same to the world.

It is completely and totally worth it.

If you want to be happy, you must first be ready to be happy.  You must be ready for the changing, shifting, processing, letting go, grieving and cleansing.  If you aren’t ready for that, you will stop yourself from making progress.  You may or may not realize you’re doing so.  But you will do so, all the same.

So, how do you become ready?  You understand what the process of becoming happy entails.  You understand what’s at stake.  You take stock of your life, and you make a fully educated, authentic choice.  By making a really solid choice to be happy, you become ready.  And no matter where the path to happiness goes, or how hard it becomes, you will always have your really solid choice to fall back on.  It will support you when you feel like nothing else will.

In the details, the path to happiness is different for everyone.  Broadly speaking, the path to happiness always takes the fortitude and strength to shake things up — to redefine your entire world.  You absolutely have that strength.

Are you ready?