“When
we can’t access our inner
resources, we come to the flawed conclusion that happiness and
fulfillment come
only from external events.” ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance
Good
Morning!
I don’t know
about you, but I
have made this mistake before. I have
spent time continually looking for happiness in external events.
The problem with that search is that our
happiness becomes codependent. Instead
of having a well to draw on from within, we require external events to
“lift us
up.” Not only is that unfair to the
events or people we are relying upon, it is unfair to ourselves,
because the happiness
we create is conditional.
We
all deserve unconditional joy
and happiness within our own hearts.
We deserve
to have a sense of internal peace, regardless of what is happening
around
us. The intensity
of that happiness
might fluctuate with what our external world offers, but is there
nonetheless.
Sarah
is very accurate in her
assessment. When we
can’t (or choose not
to) access our inner resources, is when we look to the external to
“fill us up.” Because
we can’t figure out how to create the
reality we need, we turn to others and asl or expect them to do it for
us.
To break out of
that mold, we
have to access our inner resources. We
have to learn the skills to turn our questions inward instead of
outward. We have to accept responsibility that happiness
begins right where we are, not somewhere outside ourselves.
How
do we do this? There
are many things in life we can’t or don’t
control, but we do control our attitude and our perceptions. Once we accept this fact,
we create a space
in our life to access those inner resources.
We create quiet time, reflections time.
We engage in activities that promote
self-awareness, self-discovery, and
self-reflection. We
feed our souls with
positive affirmations and positive people.
We turn away and don’t accept the negative
into our thoughts and
perceptions. We
embrace that which
nurtures us, and we reject the rest.
Your Turn: Get our your calendar and
schedule in a space
for self-reflection and self-discovery.
Choose to look inward instead of outward in
order to begin discovering
lasting joy in your daily life.
Todays’ Affirmation: Within me is everything I
need to experience
lasting joy.