#tbt: Emerge into Happiness

Jumping on the Throwback Thursday bandwagon...Starting with revisiting a post from January 23, 2013... Emerge into Happiness!

See the original post, below! And be HAPPY!! :D

For happiness is anyone and anything at all

That's loved by you.

~ You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown 
 

How often have you said if just XYZ happened, I'd be happy? Or I'll be happy when I lose weight? I'll be happy when I make more money, when I pay off my student loans, when I can touch my toes, when I run my marathon, when I get promoted, when I..., when I..., when I...

We're always waiting for happiness. As Baron Baptiste says in 40 Days to a Personal Revolution, we are always "fighting" to "get" what we think will, ultimately, make us happy.  But, as Baron Baptiste says, "Fighting has to do with getting.  And a get state of mind is not a healthy state of mind.  When we put out a get mentality, we'll be got.  But when we relax, we receive."

We spend so much time trying to get to happiness that we ignore what can make us truly happy.

Week three of Baron's #40digitaldays is devoted to "equanimity." To finding your life and meeting your life where it is.  When is the last time you allowed yourself to be truly happy? To embrace the moment, not worry about the past, not worry about the future, and just be happy?!?

I know so many people who aren't happy. Heck, I'm not always happy.  Because we forget.  We forget the small stuff.  We forget that the journey is happiness unto itself.  You cannot wait until the next big thing happens to be happy.  You cannot wait to love your body until you weigh that perfect amount on the scale. Why? Because if you expect an outside thing, person, promotion, event, etc. to determine your happiness, you will never be happy.  You will reach that goal, you will reach that pinnacle, and you will find yourself lost.

In her January 8 "Mindful Smack" called "Pure Presence" Elena Bower challenges us to let go of negativity. That if we stay unhappy, "the real victim of that negativity is me."

Do you want to be your own victim to unhappiness? Do you want to let that negativity bring you down?

No?

That's what I thought.

You can shift that negativity. You can emerge into your own happiness. Feel the negativity, really let yourself experience it, and then allow yourself to move to the feeling that comes AFTER negativity.

I find my one year old nephew to be a constant source of joy and happiness.  Do you notice how PRESENT little kids are? How they can find so much joy in a simple sound, a butterfly, a smile?

Why don't we experience that joy? Because we allow ourselves to be negative. We tell ourselves, something that small, that's not worthy of my time. That's not happiness! I have to do this and this and that and this other thing before I can be happy.

And we spend all our time in the getting, in the negative attitude, in the worry.

We miss what is right in front of us, what we already possess:

JOY!

So I challenge you. All of you.  To find the happiness in the little things. In the spread of your toes in tadasana. The sound of birds chirping on your run.  Hugging a loved one and really feeling that hug.  Talking to a friend on the telephone.  Reading a book.  Watching tree branches sway in the wind.

Let the negativity and the need to succeed be what it is.  Experience it. And then go past it.  Let go of the need to "get" somewhere.  When you take the time to appreciate where you are, you just may find it to be a wonderful place.

Today, tomorrow, and every day, I wish you child-like happiness.

Have a magnificent, present, jubilant day.

Let me know how it goes.

Smiles and laughter to y'all!

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.

~ Jean Houston