The Mountain and Molehill Strategy for Happiness

A way to shift your perspective and find happiness in the big and little things in life

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

When things are not going my way, I use a strategy I like to call the Mountain and Molehill Strategy. It’s a strategy that can be summed up like this:

When the little things are bothering you, focus on the big picture. When the big picture is bothering you, focus on the little things.

Let me break the strategy down for you into two parts:

When the little things are bothering you, focus on the big picture

You are calmly washing the dishes. There’s leftover food plugging the sink drain. Soap and suds are everywhere. With the pile of dishes in the sink, you can’t see what’s in the sink. As you reach for the next dish to wash your hand grasps onto something sharp. A knife. Nevermind the fact that you told your partner to wash knives separately and not throw them in the sink. As you stand there, your hand bleeding into the sink, you curse. You scream profanities. All of this of course out of earshot of your partner and your family because it is in silence.

But consider that in the grand scheme of things, a slight cut on your hand is nothing. It would…