Recently I have been posting about how we are encouraged to try to find our happiness by defining what we desire and taking action to achieve it. Today, I’m going to suggest that we stop trying to chase happiness. We spend so much time, energy and money in trying to achieve a state of happiness but are we truly any happier?
Some nuggets of wisdom from my podcast fave (sorry if you’re getting sick of her but I find her interesting and challenging) Tonya Leigh who suggested that we should stop chasing happiness and accept that we have different moods, sometimes things are a bit doom and gloom, and we’re not always on our A game. These emotions should not be avoided or resisted but acknowledged and allowed. She questioned what if we used our emotions to discover the wisdom those days hold, what if we didn’t make a negative emotion mean something has gone terribly wrong in our lives?
The chances are when we delve deeper into our emotions they can be the key to unlocking a successful life, feeling and understanding our emotions can be fundamental to our creativity and desires.
Continually trying to chase happiness can be exhausting and whilst we are intent on that, we can be abandoning taking care of ourselves. Consider whether we are running towards something or away from something when we chase happiness. Sitting with our emotions can be a journey of discovery of beliefs that have been holding us back, patterns that keep showing up and how we can feel an emotion without having to react to it.
TL suggested that there will always be occasions when we are not on top of the world but that’s ok, its normal and part of everyday emotion. However, we still get up and get on with our day. She suggested that it was important to show up and be who you are in the moment. Trying to be happy all the time can actually make us more miserable as we’re always striving for something slightly out of reach. Turn the focus off of you and onto all that is around you, even when you are feeling less than 100%.
She suggested that is was normal to have negative emotions. It’s only the meaning we chose to attach to it and that when you stop resisting or reacting to an emotion it simply becomes a feeling in your body. She concluded that moods come and go, so navigate according to your desire, not your mood.
You could be happier if you stopped chasing happiness.
Bells, Bakes & Bettering Myself 