happiness [recognised]

Beautiful clients of mine of often talk to me about How To Be Happier. It’s a question I love, partly because the answer [or solution] is highly accessible.

Happiness isn’t just a weird amorphous state that happens to some lucky individuals but isn’t accessible to others. There’s a whole heap of rigorous evidence to show that it is possible, for everyone [no matter what their circumstances], to improve the way they feel.

There are heaps of practical things you can do to boost your own happiness and enhance your broader sense of well-being. One easy thing you can choose to start doing is this: notice when you are feeling good.

Now, that might sound simple and a bit lame. [phwah! Doesn’t everyone do that anyway??] Well, no. You know what? I think that they don’t. Lots of folk I speak to have been so focused for so long on Just Keeping On Going that they’ve let go of consciously noticing positive emotions. Some have even reached a point where they no longer have any idea of what makes them feel good.

In order to focus on positive emotions, it’s important to start slowing down. It’s tough to recognise positive feelings when you’re simultaneously talking to someone on the phone, scoffing a sandwich and checking updates on your iPad. The other thing to do is to bear witness to those feelings: in your head [or even better, out loud!]

The way you experience this shift will be entirely personal. It might be that you decide to eat your breakfast on your deck instead of inside and you notice the flowers creeping out from that little cutting you stuck in a can last week: I feel happy [you might say]. Or, choosing to unplug from your music on the tram, you might start to notice that your trips to work are infused with a sense of calm: I feel content.

Have a go at this: play with it; hold it lightly. Tune in to what’s going on inside and see what happens.

[Conscious attention has a beautiful tendency to make positive experiences bloom].

Tags: happiness, mindfulness