Happiness continued

True happiness means different things to different people.

You might be happy if you only have a little shack on the water and a fishing boat. Sign me up! I just need a laptop and Wi-Fi.

Some people want to build a business, a large home, and have something to pass onto their kids. Victor dreams of growing his vineyard into a world-famous winery. Karen wants to be a famous chef.

Other people only want freedom, like Ginger who wants to live in a camper and explore the US. Eric might want to backpack Europe and then travel South America by bus.

Heather, on the other hand, wants to do mission work and help the underprivileged.

True happiness is what will make you feel happy, but also while feeling valuable. Most people want to give back, even the people who just want to travel usually interact with others and love learning about other people.

Happiness means being true to yourself.

It’s hard to feel happy when you feel like you can’t speak your mind or that you don’t want to put yourself out there. Let your light shine! Show the world how special, quirky, smart, helpful, and talented you are.

This includes following your passion or dream. You have something to offer the world, and you’ll feel so much happier and fulfilled if you develop that and make a difference.

Happiness doesn’t mean you’re constantly feeling joy.

You’ll have down days and hard times. Happiness is a choice, however, so you can realise that things will pick up.

Some people who seek happiness will panic when they have some down days, and that can even lead to depression. It’s okay to just be “Okay” and not overjoyed or super ecstatic every day.

There are some people with super high energy. When you’re around them, you might feel like you’re missing out and you’re not as happy. But they have a different natural set point. For people who are much lower key, they can feel drained after too long with those high-energy people.

The point here is that you have a natural happiness and energy set point. You can do things to be happier, but also understand that you’re working with your personality and energy level.

Happiness isn’t the end of the ride.

You can’t ride the happy train to the end and get off to a place where “you’ve arrived” and you’ll always be happy.

You can sort of “arrive” in life, but our emotions aren’t a platform we stop on. You’ll have ups, downs, and everything in between. And that’s good! If we were completely happy all the time, we’d get bored…and then depressed. It’s okay to get excited, upset, angry, sad, peaceful, thoughtful, and a whole array of mixed emotions.

You’ll have days when you cry over someone you lost, but you’ll also have good memories again too. It’s how life works. Don’t be afraid of times when you’re not up.

Happiness is an attitude that you can choose, and it means that you’re happy with your life. True happiness means you feel that you’re authentic to yourself, you add value to the world and your family, and you have people you care about.

True happiness is about acceptance in a way: you accept the good in life, in other people, and in you. It’s a place where you don’t have to stress about if you’re doing the right thing or if you’re in the right place.

You know you’ve followed your heart and you’re living the life you want and that's where I'm at!

More next week. Carole  x