I’ll reactivate my dating profile after I lose another 10 pounds, which means I need to go back to the gym … But I don’t have enough money to pay for the membership … That raise should be coming my way within a month or two … I’m hungry and it has been a rough day … I deserve pizza when I get home, but then I’ll gain more weight, be forced to wait even longer to find love and I haven’t even done my taxes yet ….
Sadly, this is that little voice that tugs the happiness away from countless numbers of people – not only on a weekly or daily basis, but often on a moment-to-moment basis. Many of us, consciously or unconsciously, hinge our happiness on some short-term goal. Perhaps your goal is finally earning that raise, which will afford you a gym membership, which will tone your body and encourage you to eat healthier. Then, it won’t be long before you’ll have the confidence to seek and find love.
Once that happens, I’ll be happy … In just a few short months … Definitely by the end of the year …
But that’s the train of thought you’ve probably had for most of your life. You’ve accomplished goals that you thought would make you happy – graduated school and earned a well-paying job – yet the search for happiness continues. Losing 10 pounds – somehow, that’s the thing that’ll do it.
Losing 10 pounds may not be your carrot. It may be garnering the willpower to quit smoking – finally, or taking a vacation from work, or making the move to another city …
And so it goes. Of course, accomplishing goals to move your life forward is an important facet of life, but if you think the next goal you achieve will finally make you happy, you probably have another thing coming.
So, how can we be happy? Is it hopeless? No – Not. At. ALL! Finding happiness, I believe, is deceptively simple. It’s available to us at any given moment. Allowing the voice that’s likely in your head – keeping you awake at night, telling you that you’re not good enough right now, distracting your attention nearly all of the time – that’s a kind of un-satisfactoriness that keeps us away from happiness.
Yoga, meditation, spiritual studies and simply taking the time to smell the flowers or appreciate the miracle of a blade of grass – these are the sort of things that will allow you to reclaim the moment, right now, so you can be happy without any contingencies.
I’m excited to have you along with me. Welcome to The Happy Channel®!