Did you know that many of us gage our happiness and contentment on things outside ourselves?

Whether it's the amount of money we have in the bank, the home we live in, the level we have achieved in our business or even the relationships we find ourselves in - we look to those areas to see if we can and should be happy based on the status of those things.

Most of us say that we will be happy when we have accomplished this goal, or made this amount of money or finally found the love of our lives.

Are you waiting for a particular outcome before truly being happy?

If so, you will never find lasting fulfillment or success in your life! It may sound harsh - but it's true.

The truth of the matter is that true happiness comes from within! And until you find it there, you will only have brief moments of joy and happiness.

We literally kill ourselves working hard to achieve a certain level of success so we can find that ever elusive thing we call security and happiness. We figure the harder we work the sooner we will reach that magical goal.

When we reach that number, what do we do? We set a new bigger number and start all over again. So the process repeats.

It truly is the unquenchable thirst!

I had a client that I was working with that is extremely goal oriented and her level of happiness and fulfillment was always based on the number. If she wasn't at that number she was dissatisfied. Her reaction was typical, work harder and longer hours to make that number. She was convinced that she was the one that was going to make it happen and until then, she was going to have an aura of discontent.

I asked her what would happen when she reached the number? She explained to me that she didn't want to just reach it; she wanted to blow it out. I then asked her what would happen when she blew it out. She said that she would have her celebration and then set a new number and do it all over again.

This is the game that many of us play. We think that things outside ourselves will make us happy and provide us with the things we need to be happy.

There is a way of being that can make joy, passion and fulfillment more of a constant in your life experience. First, we need to realize that things outside ourselves will never provide us with what we are all truly seeking.

Secondly, we need to make a choice to be happy and content right here and now. It is a choice and we need to make that choice each and every day.

True happiness does not come from reaching a goal. True happiness takes place on the journey. By practicing gratitude daily in our lives we open the door for more joy, passion and fulfillment into our experience.

When we practice being this way we open the door to truly living an amazing and fulfilling life.