What keeps you from allowing joy and pleasure as part of daily living? You deserve it just as much as anyone else.
—
A wise person somewhere in this universe once said that “happiness is an inside job.” There is a lot of truth packed into those five words.
How much happiness are you allowing into your life today? Do you care about feeling happy? Does the mere thought of being happy turn your stomach upside down?
Happiness, joy, and gratitude are a powerful concoction to bring your soul’s purpose into a higher level of acceptance. This is not some self-help, rah-rah, sis-boom-bah stuff. It really can cause an emotional and mental shift inside your mind and body.
What keeps you from not allowing happiness into your life? Have you considered giving it a formal invitation into your heart?
Ignoring your happiness will not fulfill your life’s mission, whatever the hell that is, at all. In fact, you might be headed for the long ditch of unhappiness. Being and feeling happy are great indicators of how you are embracing happiness. Your soul wants you to be happy. Why are you keeping this fulfilling emotion at a distance? Are you scared to let happiness seep through the dark shadows of fear, anger and doubt within you? What if the happiness you so desire was just a mere thought or two away … a heartbeat away?
You know, it might just be that close.
♦◊♦
Consider this analogy. You wake up after a rather restless night of sleep, wipe those sleepy eyes awake, go into your bathroom and look in the mirror. What horror might await you? Bedhead. You know, where 12 strands of hair are standing straight up, 18 are shifted left, 10 are going right, and there might be that single one hanging down into your eyes. Blech. It looks like a mess.
Keeping happiness at bay from yourself can almost leave you having inner bedhead.
Seriously, people, you and I don’t allow this buoyant feeling to invade our spirits every waking moment. Imagine if your sole intention every day was to be happy. No matter how many critics you were around. No matter how the stock market was doing that day. No matter how bad life gets. Just imagine if, for one hour each day, you committed to a “happiness practice.”
See, I didn’t say you had to do this “happiness practice” for the whole day. Yet starting out with baby steps might lead to a fuller and, well, happier look upon life.
This is definitely easier said than done. I realize there are infinite amounts of men and women who deal with depression and different emotional disorders on a daily basis. I’m not steeping this in a pie-in-the-sky mindset. I do believe that those burdened souls could even do their best to welcome a little happiness into their lives even for five minutes a day.
♦◊♦
What makes you feel happy? The most popular type of television show ever since the medium began many decades ago has been the situation comedy. “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners” were done in the 1950s, yet still people of many different generations love laughing at the Ricardos, Mertzes, Kramdens and Nortons. Other shows like “Cheers” (1980s), “Seinfeld” (1990s), “The Big Bang Theory” (2000s) and many others that I could name, bring immense joy and happiness to millions every day.
If the TV show isn’t your thing, then there is a plethora of music that can bring happiness to your own soul. Whether you love dialing up Beethoven, Bach or Brahms, you’d rather snap your fingers with Darin, Sinatra, Bennett or Buble, or rock out with Pantera, Jimi Hendrix or Foo Fighters … if it brings you joy then get to it.
Nature is a real magical beast when it comes to happiness. Notice a sunrise or sunset. See the blue skies above. The white, puffy clouds that pass by along the jet stream, going along their merry way. Look up into the vast cavern of stars at night. Stop along a creek and just see the water flowing over rocks, listening and opening up your soul to its majestic sound. Hell, even looking out your backyard window and noticing which birds come by can even be fun and bring happiness within yourself.
Now I’ve listed a number of jump-starting ideas toward that goal of happiness. Know that it’s not a one-size-fits-all format. Some people will consider this talk of happiness pure crap. They are comfortable being in negative energy all day long. Oh, they might talk about this person or that person being “too happy.” The “sour puss” individual probably is crying on the inside for the happiness that radiates from that other person, wishing they had just a glimpse…a taste…of it.
For the “sour pusses” in the world, I openly invite you to give yourself five minutes of happiness today. You are totally worth it.
♦◊♦
Happiness has no end point. There is no start-finish line to it. Have I always felt happy every day of my life? No. You haven’t either. We have been journeyers along a road of life that has been filled with mountaintop joys and valley disasters. Plus, there have been times where sitting on a plateau and looking out to peaks and valleys have been just fine.
Those were restful moments, peaceful times where life merrily rolled along downstream. Life could always be filled with positive feelings. It does take some mental and emotional effort to make this a practice. Your soul deserves happiness. YOU deserve happiness in your life. Ask yourself some questions. Seek what blocks you from allowing laughter and joy in some every day. You may or may not have a spiritual path in your life. It can help, yet it is not the panacea for everyone. You know yourself better than I ever will.
Striving for happiness is something that you and I can make a goal in our lives. Our souls deserve a couple of rays of happiness every day. Look for those pleasurable moments. Welcome laughter into your life. Smile at those things which tickle your fancy. Denying yourself these moments and being critical of everyone and everything isn’t healthy. You deserve happiness, and so does your soul.
—
Photo: Getty Images