Bernie Parent: Life is about questions

The first question you should ask yourself when you wake up in the morning is, "How am I feeling today?" You either feel lousy or you feel good. The next question is, "What am I thinking about?" If you're taking a negative approach to your day, ask yourself, "How can I make myself happy?" Just telling yourself that you're happy won't make it come true. You must take action. What are you going to DO to change it? Dig yourself out of that hole.

Information is not power; action is power. You filter all sorts of information through your mind daily, but unless you take action, your thoughts stay thoughts. Your actions are the answers to your questions.

If you're cooking, if you're driving, if you're wondering what to eat for lunch or what to wear today, each question must be accompanied by an answer, and it's your action that will complete it.

If your purpose or vision is to see the sunset, but you find yourself always traveling east, you're always going to miss it. Focus on your task at hand and take the necessary steps to get there. Decide your purpose and vision, then design and execute the actions needed to get there.

Apply these concepts to the questions you ask yourself about relationships, financial situations, emotional needs, your happiness, etc. Get up and answer those questions!

If you're not happy, ask yourself how you got there. If you are happy, ask yourself how you got there. Asking ourselves these questions is so automatic that we don't even realize we do it. Everything we do is a question.

You get in your car. Where am I going? Will there be traffic? What is the best route to take to get to my destination?

The purpose for identifying the questions that we go through life asking ourselves everyday, is to be able to change your attitude toward something.

Look at the innocence of children. They don't need much to keep them happy. Every little thing excites them! They recognize the present moment and live in it. Allow yourself to embrace that!

Everyone is entitled to feel sad or angry or emotional. It's part of being human. But knowing that you don't have to stay there, and that you have the power to bring yourself back up again, is the secret. You are in control of your emotions. If you're feeling down, you can change the way you're feeling by identifying the question, the problem, the answer, and changing your attitude. THAT is the key to happiness.

Allow yourself to feel what you're feeling, but don't continue to dwell on the negative. Ask yourself how you can fix it and move along.

Happiness is a choice. Society tells us that being unhappy is part of being alive. And that may be partially true, but I don't totally believe in that. I believe you can be as happy as you want to be, all of your life. It's all a matter of choice.