I sometimes catch myself thinking it will be easier to be happy, content, loving, giving, or whatever when something in my life changes. When I have that house I’m waiting for. When I start a family. When I’m anywhere but here.

I was thinking the other day about how life would be easier at some later point and it hit me: Life will be the same because your heart goes with you.

What I mean by that is when I have that house I’ve been waiting for, I’ll still have the same heart moving into it with me. If I’m unhappy or discontent in my heart without that house, my unhappy heart will go with me and find something else to be unhappy about.

I know this is true because it’s happened a thousand times before. I now have many things I once thought would change everything. And even though all those things are nice and do add some happiness to my life, they do not fundamentally change who I am or how I look at life—that starts in the heart.

My favorite blogger said, “Your looks are only a carrier of your soul.”

She’s right not only about the physical appearance but physical circumstances and possessions too. How I look, where I live, and the circumstances around me matter only on a material level and change all the time. But my heart and soul, who I am on the inside and how I live and think on the inside—that’s what really matters no matter what changes on the outside.

My heart and soul go with me. Everywhere, every time. I hope I can learn to grow each day in the place and circumstances where I find myself.

The way we live life is a choice we make every single day and today, I choose to make the right choices.