Today's show is about choosing happiness, even when you don't feel happy, even when you don't want to be. The reality is, though, happiness is not defined by your circumstances or by what happens to you, and nobody knows this better than today's guest, author of bestselling book The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod. Hal and I dig deep into happiness and Hal shares his amazing and inspiring journey with The Miracle Morning. This was one of the most inspirational interviews I've done on this show. If you're in a funk or you just could use a little inspiration, listen in now!

Highlights:
-Happiness is an emotion. There are many thought leaders that would say that the ultimate purpose of life is happiness. I don’t necessarily disagree with that but I think there are lots of layers.
-The greatest lesson I ever learned was what was the fundamental cause of our unhappiness.
-They are all self-created. Any negative emotion we’ve ever felt, they are all self-created.
-It’s not the thing that causes emotional pain, it is our level of resistance to that thing.
-Hal shares about the time he died in a car crash at 20.
-It’s okay to be negative when things go wrong, but only for five minutes. After that, there’s no point because you can’t change it. You can’t go back in time and change it.
-You get to choose what your emotional response is from that point on.
-If you can’t change something, you put yourself through self-torture if you spend your time wishing things were different.
-What’s your wheelchair? What is the circumstance that is out of your control but you allow it to cause you to feel negative emotions.
-I learned that you can be the happiest you’ve ever been, even amidst the most difficult experience of your life.
-Acceptance is key.
-Hal shares about his rock bottom — it wasn’t dying.
-It’s hard to accept things when they spiral downwards.
-I didn’t know how to accept the worse case scenario and then have it get worse.
-Hal shares about how thrown into the mix was an addiction to Adderal, which he was prescribed for ADHD.
-Your success rarely outstrips your level of personal development. Quote from Jim Rohn
-By applying the Miracle Morning practice, in one day he turned his depression around.
-If you’re not a morning person it’s only because you aren’t used to it. You’re not born one way or another.
-Hal walks us through the six things you can do to get started.
-There are six practices (SAVERS):
--Silence (meditation/prayer)
--Affirmations (written statements that affirm what you want… don’t lie to yourself. Focus on what you’re committed to doing--why, how and when.
--Visualisation
--Exercise (get your heart rate up)
--Reading self-help books
--Scribing - articulate your thoughts (journaling)
-Any one of these is a game changer. Do all six and it’s really powerful.
-43,000 people are in the Miracle Morning group on Facebook.
-Commit to a 30 day challenge to get started.
--Set your alarm clock for 30 minutes earlier.
--Do one of the SAVERS for 30 minutes.
--Join the Miracle Morning Community on Facebook.

Show notes: http://yourbrilliantuncareer.com/ybuc53-31-days-to-biztopia-choosing-happiness-with-hal-elrod/