Although most of us say we want to be happy, we often find it difficult to shed our pessimistic grouchy personas. What holds us back? The list can be endless with desires for better health, more money, job security, and leisure time to name a few common ones. And yet we all know people who are happy despite their apparent lack of many of these things. So that can’t be the whole story.

There is paradoxical comfort in misery. Misery may feel like a friend, yes, a miserable one but the devil we know is often better than the one we do not. We wear our habitual thoughts and feelings like a comfortable old sweatshirt and a pair of ragged jeans. They may turn others off, makes us feel sloppy and bad about ourselves but they are OURS. We know who we are when we are wearing them. And we feel downright naked without them.

Discover why misery is your best friend.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Does being miserable…

• Make others pay more attention to me?
• Give me an excuse for procrastinating?
• Protect me from taking risks and possibly failing?
• Make my relationships less intimate and therefore more comfortable?
• Prevent me from making the life changes I am afraid to make?
• Lower others’ expectations of me so I can feel more successful?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, get some help in managing the feelings that are keeping you from enjoying your life to the fullest.

Coming in May ”Small Steps You Can Take on the Road to Making Friends with Happiness”