How To Be Happy!
- Published in NE Magazine November 2017
How you respond to any situation will determine your experiences in life – happy or sad, hard or difficult – the choice is always yours!
Your ultimate power lies in that no-one can make you feel or think anything. You may initially be reactive to a situation, but in taking a moment of pause, of reflection you can then decide how you want to respond to it.
Don’t get upset with people or situations – both are powerless without your reaction. Don’t
get dragged into other people’s “noise”.
Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There’s always going to be stress in your life, but it’s your choice whether you let it negatively affect you or not.
Some tools for attaining happiness:
FOCUS
Focus is a powerful tool for achieving goals and attaining happiness. Whatever you focus on grows, whether positive or negative. So if your thoughts are naturally drifting towards the negatives & problems & challenges in your life, you are likely to create more of the same. Start to make conscious time to think about the positives in your life. A very simple, but awesomely effective way of doing so is to have …..
FUN THOUGHTS TIME
Most people’s natural state when they start their day is to think of their day ahead – anticipating their timetable, anticipating challenges, thinking ahead in a practical manner. Often there are good things in there as well, however, how would you like to almost instantly revitalise your mood and refresh your wellbeing ……
Spend at least 5 minutes every morning – perhaps when you have just woken up, or in the shower, or walking to the bus stop, etc, where you make a conscious effort to BANISH all negative thoughts and just think about the fun, wonderful things in your life – achievements, holidays, sunny weather, good health, remembering happy moments, etc.
You will INSTANTLY raise your vibration and this feeling of wellbeing will last you throughout the day. (BTW, this concentrated happy thought time is harder than you think – I allow myself 10 minutes, cos my happy thoughts keep drifting, and I have to keep reeling them back in!)
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
Taking 5 minutes at the end of your day to list at least 3 things that you are grateful for that day will have a strong psychological impact on your well-being and self-esteem. People who pay attention to what is good in their life, instead of what is negative, are more likely to feel positively about their life and increase their long term good health and psychological well-being.
HOW TO GUARANTEE YOUR FUTURE HAPPINESS!!!!
A guarantee of being happy in the future is by being happy now – because there is only NOW! The past is the past, the future is an illusion that does not yet exist. There is only the NOW – this present moment. And this NOW is what will create your future.
We all have history, we all have baggage, we all have fears. And many of us have an Inner Critic. And that Inner Critic often masquerades as our friend and mentor who keeps us on our “straight & narrow” by harsh inner dialogue and reminding us of past failures. The result is negative self-talk and feelings of inadequacy that can often lead to negative behaviours – over-eating, etc.
The answer is simple – it lies in creating the Inner Coach! A kind, loving, forgiving, accepting, humourous, compassionate, intelligent and tolerant inner language that nurtures & sustains positive self talk.
And this positive self talk results in sustainable rewarding thoughts & positive behaviours infused with happiness, well-being, and good physical & psychological health!