Yeah right! How many times have we heard that! If only we could leave our responsibilities behind and be carefree! To not think of bill payments, rent or mortgage, food, clothing, going to the dentist, fixing the car, getting through traffic, remembering birthdays etc... If only we had time to be happy! We’ll be happy when we go on vacation, on holidays, when we retire.
But what if having a happy state of mind has nothing to do with free time? What if we can be in this state of mind right now, no matter what is going on?
Well, first we need to define happiness. That’s easy! People have been answering that question since the beginning of time. Many different answers, many contradictory answers - lots of money; freedom of no attachments; family life; single life; live in a beautiful home; travel the world: write a book; win an award; build a chair... The answers are as varied as there are people. So then maybe we have to find our own definition of “happy”. Is it a thing, or a feeling, or a circumstance?
Once we know what tickles our fancy, floats our boat, explodes our heart with joy, then we can begin. Finding meaning in our own happiness is the doorway to getting there.
So, we make a list of happiness things for ourselves. But will we truly be happy once we attain whatever is on our list of happy? And how about before we get there? What do we do in the meantime? What if we get what’s on our list but everything else in our life is crap. Or it cost too much and now we’re depleted of money, relationships, energy... Is it really the thing/event that makes us happy or the meaning behind it?
Let’s ask ourselves “what about this will make me happy”? “How will I feel when I get this happiness thing”? Now these answers will light the hallway, the room, the meadow, after we open the door to our happiness. We don’t have to wait for the “happiness thing” to feel happy. We can focus on the feeling that we want to accompany it. Focus on the significance of it. And wonderfully, we humans are equipped with imagination!!
So, get this! We can imagine having the thing/event/circumstance and feel what happens in our body (feeling warmth in the heart; butterflies in the tummy; tingling toes; endless smile...). Now, as we imagine what makes us happy from our personal list, and are feeling happy things in our body, we are...wait for it...in a state of happiness!!! Yup!
We can choose to be in a state of mind that embodies happiness, even if our life doesn’t yet reflect the things that make us happy. By asking ourselves a few questions and then imagining how it would feel to “be there”, we actually create the glorious state of happiness within us. Now isn’t that cool??!!!
