By Jo Green
“Well, there’s a cheerful title if ever I heard one” you may be thinking, but stick with me and I promise you it’s actually the most exciting title there could be!
Let’s start with a question…What is happiness? Can you answer it? Do you know what happiness means to you or does your mind go to what we’re led to believe is society’s definition of happiness, you know the one…nice house, high flying career or successful business, nice car, lots of holidays, perfect family etc etc. and if that is happiness for you then great. For many of us though, that’s what we’re chasing and when we get there, nothing, nada. Well, maybe a super short spike of happiness but the gleam soon wears off and you find yourself looking once again for the elusive happiness.
You see the reason this happens, time and time again is that happiness isn’t out there and so looking out there for it, is always going to end you back at where you began.
Why? Because happiness is within you. As the wonderful Jamie Varon says in her book, Radically Content, ‘It doesn’t matter where we go, what we achieve or how much we change our external life. The one constant is how we feel about ourselves, how much we allow ourselves to feel, how much of our past we heal and evolve from. I’ve been deeply unhappy in lots of beautiful places. Wherever you go, there you are’.
We get in our own way of happiness in so many ways, so much so that I wrote a talk on it called ‘The Art of Happiness’, and so if you’re looking for happiness, true and sustainable happiness, the answers all lie within you.
Today I’m going to suggest you take a moment to sit down and define happiness for yourself. Not for your partner, or your parents, or your friends, for YOU! What does it look and feel like? Drown out the noise and go inward and find your answer.
And because I’m on a mission to help as many people as possible create a happier and healthier life, I’m going to be sharing more ways you can create happiness in your life in my future blogs, so make sure you’re signed up for my fortnightly newsletter. And help me on my mission by sharing this article with anyone you think it may benefit.
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