Happiness is a Practice
Posted by Wendy Jacobs in May, 2014
This blog has been on my mind for a few weeks now and because it keeps popping into my mind I thought it was time to write it.
What is the secret to happiness? Why is that some people get it so easily and others despite to seemingly have it all struggle so badly to experience it? Very simply, Happiness is a state, and all states are created based on certain conditions, they are not things that randomly happen to us but are experiences that we either consciously or unconsciously influence.
The trick then, is to become conscious of these patterns and practice them, even when you are not “feeling” happy. In fact the practice is even more powerful when you are not feeling happy. Practice the obvious behaviours such as smiling, dancing, singing and laughing and become aware of the not so obvious influences such as your posture, eye cues, breathing patterns, dialogue, and balance. Of course there is so much more to be said about this topic and honestly I could talk about this for hours but today I want to leave you with something brief, yet powerful and something that you will remember if you truly want to feel happy.
There are very specific patterns that each of us run in order to feel happy, the difference is that some of us have made these patterns so damn difficult that it is almost impossible to ever feel good and others have made it so easy that just about anything makes them feel great.
Happiness is a state of mind based on your physiology, language and focus of thought in interaction. (for more detail on this refer to blog 2 ‘ How we influence our Emotions’ ). Now we know what happiness is and second part then… is the practice of happiness! Doing the things that give us the experience of feeling happy and doing this consciously, and consistently until…just like those people who always seem to be happy… it just becomes effortless for us too.