Everything starts with the internal.

It’s a very simple and elegant concept, but it can take us a lifetime to appreciate this.

From an early age, we are taught to view the pursuit of happiness as external to us and to seek fulfilment and reward in the external environment.

Concepts such as happiness, success, failure,  self worth, love – all are seen as being provided or attained through interacting with the external world of other people, society, work, politics, economics and religion.

This can lead to us feeling that we are victims of circumstance or the behaviour of others. People are either good to us or bad to us, we are lucky or unlucky.

We give reasons for not achieving something that are outside of our control: “well, she’s always had it in for me, so there was no way I was going to get that contract”.

Or even worse: “you make me feel bad about myself”.

By making ourselves into victims, we are not only placing the blame for our unhappiness or unfulfillment onto other people or external conditions – we are also giving away the power to do anything about it to the same people or external conditions.

Only when someone starts treating us right or fortune favours us can we truly live a life that we feel happy and supported in.

Whilst it may appear comforting in the short term to blame all our woes on external events and circumstances, it is actually completely dis-empowering.

If we are reliant on other people and events to bring us comfort in life, we are taking a huge risk with our happiness and sense of fulfilment.

But the truth is very different – and it is liberating.

Everything is internal. Whether we are happy or sad in life is entirely down to us.

Our perceptions shape our reality and we can change our perceptions in an instant. So it is possible to change our lives completely in an instant.

It is not easy, of course, but it is possible.

By being more mindful of what and how we are thinking, we can interrupt the unconscious programming that restricts us and learn to determine our own path.

Once we stop looking for external factors to make us happy, once we live with our own chosen set of beliefs and perceptions of how we wish to see the world – then we will begin to see more and more opportunities to enjoy whatever life has to offer.

By taking responsibility for our own happiness, we become captain of our own ship.