Happiness.
It’s not just a word at Christmastime on a keychain or a thing that we look for when we have misplaced our glasses or can’t find our keys. It’s not a thing. It’s a state of BE ing. We are all so busy being a human DO ing instead of BE ing that it’s hard to get to that place of present moment awareness of who we really are.
I love these pictures of our dog. Sooooo in the present moment on a hot summer day. Mommy turned on the sprinkler!!!! And that’s it, JOY! Boom! Just like that.
As humans we think we cannot be that spontaneous, and simply throw off all the worries and stress for a moment, but in reality, we can and we should.
Where is my happy? Where IS IT? Under the couch, in a bag of chips, at the end of the third beer? Nope, nope and nope! Because after we move the couch and eat the chips and drink the beer we are still feeling a lack of happiness.
It isn’t outside of ourselves. It is a part of you, a part of all of us. It’s always there. It’s a choice to choose. It’s easier to find your happiness within you when it is not buried under all the garbage that is available that we clutter up our minds with.
Imagine walking through trees and wondering how deep the roots are. After decades of leaf dropping in autumn and millions of sticky, sappy things in spring and twigs and deer wandering through, it hard to see or even imagine the roots are down there somewhere. The tree knows it has deep roots.
People have deep roots too. The happy is in there. When we choose to stop distracting ourselves with so much mind clutter, we can connect with our happy. The more we connect with happy, the more potential we have for gratitude and JOY.
On my website one of my clients talks about being reconnected with her happy memories. The negative stuff simply fell away. As a hypnotherapist it is so rewarding to see that emotional reconnection take place.
From a place of more positive energy, we can change our focus and perspective and find gratitude. Even if the only meditation you do through your day is saying ‘thank you’ with meaning from within you, that is a great start that can grow into more awareness of everything in your life that is going well. As we realize that there usually are many things in our life that are positive, our happy level comes up a little. As we practice focusing on the positive, the tight grip of negativity becomes loose. Positive energy flows, negative energy restricts.
Our minds have a constant feed of information going on like a background app that like your phone, sucks the life out of our battery. Constantly engaging, constantly multitasking is mentally exhausting. Contrary to popular belief, our brains are not in love with multitasking. Science has evidence that focusing on one thing at a time, actually gets more done. Getting jobs done supports a feeling of accomplishment. That can lead to doing something else to get another positive feeling, and that makes us feel good! And then the happy goes up a little more and the spiral is going up instead of down.
Changing our focus, is like flipping a switch. We can choose to be in the dark, or we can choose to get up and turn on the lights. We can flip the switch from negative to positive. It takes the same amount of effort, either way. We can choose happy.
Here is a little meditation exercise to participate in if you choose.
How to make your own Happy App!
Shut off your phone, the TV, the streaming, the noise, shut it all off.
Take some time for you in a quiet place with a big comfy chair.
Sit on your bum. Be comfortable.
Close your eyes.
Take in a deep breath and as you let it go, let go of the clutter. Let go of the stress. Let go of any thoughts or beliefs that are negative and not helpful to you.
Repeat step 5 until the cluttered space in your mind feels empty. Return to your natural breathing pattern.
Focus on reconnecting with a happy emotion that you experienced at some point in your life, when you felt carefree and spontaneous. Openly receive what memory pops up for you. Enjoy it. Smile on the inside. Smile on your face.
You found your happy. Take it with you wherever you go. Use it like an app in the background of your mind. Pull it up whenever you need a happy boost.
And of course, you can go outside and turn on the sprinkler on a hot summer day and run through it with carefree abandon. 😊 Just for the happy of it.