Success is to laugh often and much...to appreciate beauty...to give of one's self. To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good morning! Have you ever noticed how "elusive" happiness can be? When we chase it, it is like our shadow--it cannot be caught. We can't mix together a few ingredients and instantly "create" happiness. We can decide that we won't be derailed by negativity -- but that alone won't create happiness.

As I have made this journey of self-discovery with thousands of women, I have found it interesting how many people want to "chase" happiness down. They don't realize that all the elements of happiness are already here. Looking for them somewhere else, won't bring them any closer than they already are. Trying to accomplish lengthy to-do lists and tasks before one feels happiness, is a crazy expectation that we put on our selves.

Why do we want to complete those lengthy to do-lists anyway? Usually the answer is - so we can have a more-balanced, happier life. How ironic is it then, to be a slave to these to-do's and schedules to the point of giving up happiness today? Do we somehow honestly think that the happiness will be "better" later?

We need happiness every day because that is what inspires and motivates us in other areas of our lives. We can't work the equation backward. "Once I accomplish this, this and this--then I'll be happy and content." It doesn't work that way. Happiness has to be at the roots-- at the core -- it isn't something we produce through accomplishment. At least not true happiness. When we put off realizing happiness, the harder it will be to find when it does come our way.

Simply put, many of us have made happiness more complicated than it needs to be. Ironically, we have added happiness to our list of things we need "to do." But this is life - and our to-do lists will be ever-evolving because we aren't done, until we are done living. So do you want happiness to be on your list for another day? Or do you want to grab it now, and live it today? You won't find happiness anywhere else except right here, and right now. Happiness needs "the moment" to live.

Your turn:
How have your complicated happiness in your life? What do you feel you have to "get done first"? What rules have you added to this emotion that doesn't need rules? Happiness only needs the moment to live - that is its oxygen. How can you remove the barriers to happiness you have imposed and let it grow in your daily life?

Your affirmation:
The only place where happiness exists is in the moment. I recognize and embrace the simple gift of happiness that only requires I be present to enjoy it.

 

Challenge Life!

Brook Noel