(kickstarting my Happy Friday series)
If there were a journey towards happiness where would it begin?
It begins with a decision.
A decision which, to begin with, you’ll probably have to make daily until it starts to become a habit. It’s the decision to be happy now.
It’s definitely easier said than done when starting out on the journey. But as you clock up the miles it does become easier. All you have to do, is let go of the “I’ll be happy when…” syndrome. Stop postponing being happy until everything in your life is just the way you want it.
If you believe that you’ll be happy when you get a better job, a raise, buy your own home, get married, have kids, ________ (fill in the blank), postponing being happy is exactly what you’re doing. You’re getting in your own way, and not enjoying what you have in your life right now as much as you could be.
And you’re also labouring under a false illusion. Because when we achieve something in our lives that we’ve wanted for a while we do feel “happy”. However, it is a temporary happiness that lasts as long as it takes for us to adjust to our new circumstances.
And it never takes long before a new desire comes along to replace the old one. That is perfectly normal, and provides us with a drive to move forward in life. But we need to be careful not to allow it bring us back to “I’ll be happy when..”. As long as our happiness is associated with having what we want in our life, it will always be a little out of our reach or will be something we experience fleetingly here and there.
Think about it for a moment.
Who do you know who has a perfect life? How often can we say that everything in our lives is exactly how we want it to be? If you’re waiting for everything in your life to be just right before you allow yourself to be happy, then you’re waiting for your health, your love life, your relationships with family and friends, your work, your finances, your home environment and your social life to all be ticking along just the way you want them and all at the same time.
Can you think of a time in your adult life when that was so? Do you really believe it needs to be so before you can be happy? If you were to wait till everything is perfect, you could die waiting!
We all have to die sometime. But we don’t have to die unhappy. We can make the decision to be happy, every day, no matter what is going on in our lives. We can let go of “I’ll be happy when..” and decide to be happy now.
What do you think of this idea?
I’m planning on writing a series of happiness tips, to be published here on Fridays. I’d love your comments and any suggestions I could build on for future tips.
Similar posts:
Do you want to be happy?
I'll be happy when
(kickstarting my Happy Friday series)
If there were a journey towards happiness where would it begin?
It begins with a decision.
A decision which, to begin with, you’ll probably have to make daily until it starts to become a habit. It’s the decision to be happy now.
It’s definitely easier said than done when starting out on the journey. But as you clock up the miles it does become easier. All you have to do, is let go of the “I’ll be happy when…” syndrome. Stop postponing being happy until everything in your life is just the way you want it.
If you believe that you’ll be happy when you get a better job, a raise, buy your own home, get married, have kids, ________ (fill in the blank), postponing being happy is exactly what you’re doing. You’re getting in your own way, and not enjoying what you have in your life right now as much as you could be.
And you’re also labouring under a false illusion. Because when we achieve something in our lives that we’ve wanted for a while we do feel “happy”. However, it is a temporary happiness that lasts as long as it takes for us to adjust to our new circumstances.
And it never takes long before a new desire comes along to replace the old one. That is perfectly normal, and provides us with a drive to move forward in life. But we need to be careful not to allow it bring us back to “I’ll be happy when..”. As long as our happiness is associated with having what we want in our life, it will always be a little out of our reach or will be something we experience fleetingly here and there.
Think about it for a moment.
Who do you know who has a perfect life? How often can we say that everything in our lives is exactly how we want it to be? If you’re waiting for everything in your life to be just right before you allow yourself to be happy, then you’re waiting for your health, your love life, your relationships with family and friends, your work, your finances, your home environment and your social life to all be ticking along just the way you want them and all at the same time.
Can you think of a time in your adult life when that was so? Do you really believe it needs to be so before you can be happy? If you were to wait till everything is perfect, you could die waiting!
We all have to die sometime. But we don’t have to die unhappy. We can make the decision to be happy, every day, no matter what is going on in our lives. We can let go of “I’ll be happy when..” and decide to be happy now.
What do you think of this idea?
I’m planning on writing a series of happiness tips, to be published here on Fridays. I’d love your comments and any suggestions I could build on for future tips.
Similar posts:
Do you want to be happy?
I'll be happy when