Where are you the happiest? What makes you smile, feel your best and let your worries go? This is an important question. It’s one you should really think about before you answer. Yes – we are all happy when we are on vacation or at the beach. In your day to day life, however, where is your happy?
Several years ago I realized my ‘happy’ was when I was teaching Pilates classes. I looked forward to it. I enjoyed my students, and I felt motivated and inspired by them. I taught because I wanted to – not because I felt I needed to or felt obligated to do it. There was one problem. I spent most of my time doing other things that did not make me happy. I spent much of my time wishing I was teaching more Pilates. It took some gumption to make the change but I’ve never regretted or second guessed it once I finally did!
I see this time and time again with my students. They talk about what makes them happy and then rationalize why they don’t have time to do just that. For me – it meant a career switch but for some it’s just making time to enjoy life and live life as it should be lived. For some it could be as simple as finding an hour a week to paint or sing or run or do Pilates or read a book. We should not feel guilty for these little happy ‘indulgences’. We should not have to justify this use of our time.
Some time it is just a matter of giving ourselves permission. Put your happy thing on the calendar and honor your commitment to get it done like you would any other task or chore in your life. Planning ahead and scheduling out the time could be the difference in doing it or not.
Let the guilt go. Realize you are a better person for your family, your friends, your co-workers, and yourself when you are happy. You are more fun to talk to and be with when you feel good and have good things to share. I’ve always said ‘happy attracts happy’. You might be surprised when you start letting a little more happy into your life the other happy things that start to fall into place.
For me, I also really love to run the trails. This is a bigger time commitment than heading out my front door and going for a run. In order to run the trails and have my happy, mind clearing run, I have to plan ahead. I look at my calendar at the beginning of the week and decide where I think I can fit in my trail run. It might mean getting my clothes out ahead of time and taking care of other task just so I can keep that window open. It is always worth that extra effort. If I didn’t plan for it – it probably would not happen.
How can you add more happy into your life?? Make it a goal this week.
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