The Power of Positivity | How to be happy
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Are you happy? Really genuinely, gut-wrenching happy?
It’s okay to answer no to this question, because it is really hard to be happy all the time. And those friends of yours that are ‘always’ happy, probably aren’t, but that doesn’t mean that as soon as people stop looking, their smile turns to a frown. To us, happiness is about balance just like everything else in life. And to be able to balance (on a tightrope, on one leg or a few plates at once) it takes practice. And practice is what is going to help you live your best life, full of happiness, sadness and all of the in-between. Because at the end of the day, life is a balancing act and we need to practice balancing all of the ‘things’ thrown our way.
Genuine happiness is going to look different for everyone, everyone has their own wants and needs and just like the language of love, there is also a language of happiness. Take some time to really assess your life and find those heart palpitating moments of happiness, they don’t need to be huge accomplishments, or milestones in your life because those beautiful moments will etch themselves into your memory and your heart and I like to keep that kind of happiness stowed away for a rainy day. (You know, those gloomy I don’t want to get out of bed kind of days)
Moments of happiness appear every day and it is our responsibility to notice them, because if we don’t and we let our happiness fall into the hands of other people, we will never have control of it. Think of this scenario, you wake up to your alarm, head into the kitchen to make a coffee and there is no sugar (you are a sugar in your coffee kind of person). You could either write the day off as a failure (because you are still tired and a little grumpy) or you can accept that your coffee isn’t going to have sugar in it today, and you can get a muffin after lunch because you are saving those calories! You will conquer your day, striving for lunch time and you get to reward yourself with a delicious muffin, improving your energy and mood.
Happiness, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. As someone who has experienced loss I cannot fathom the amount of happiness we let slip by and I promised myself I would not let that happen again in my lifetime. I can assure you at the start the changes might seem silly, insignificant or trivial but once you create the habit of finding happiness it will improve your life. So, how do we find happiness in every day life? We practise gratitude! A common habit people like to utilise is to write down three things they are grateful for each day and it empowers them to live happy, fulfilled lives.
For example:
- Playing monopoly with my family tonight.
- Nailing my project presentation at work
- Drinking fresh water
This is a fantastic habit to get into, but unfortunately it doesn’t work for me, I feel like it is an added piece of work to get done for the day. So instead I have taken the mantra of ‘DIS’, a beautiful way to impart gratitude into everyday life. This mantra was created by Hugh Van Cuylenburg of the Resilience Project and I cannot recommend his talks, podcasts or app enough. It truly changed my life. So, the mantra of ‘DIS’ is to recite the word when something in your day truly makes you grateful, like picking the last fresh sandwich at your favourite café ‘DIS’, or having your toddler run up to you and squeeze you so tight you might cry ‘DIS’ or sitting down with your family laughing and enjoying each other’s company ‘DIS’.
The point of reciting ‘DIS’ at these key moments in your day is to take the time to appreciate them, to truly think ‘wow, this moment is everything’ even if it is only small. There will be days where these moments pop up every few minutes and that is incredible, but there will also be days where these moments are more rare and what is even more incredible about those days is that when you find yourself saying ‘DIS’ and appreciating the moment you are in, you are taking control of your happiness and balancing like a champion.
Now it’s your turn to take happiness by the hand and lead it into your everyday life.
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