Happiness is something that we all are after. Happiness feels good, it makes us smile and laugh and enjoy the moments of our lives. But life is full of ups and downs and sadness and stress can creep their way into our lives. When we know how to nurture our happiness, we are empowering ourselves to thrive in the midst of sadness or chaos. It’s impossible to guard ourselves against feeling stressed or sad from time to time, we’re all human after all, but having the tools to manage these feelings is essential.
Strangely enough, embracing suffering, sadness, and stress is part of nurturing sadness. Mindfulness allows us to check in with ourselves and how we are feeling. We can recognize those feelings and embrace them without fear. We can use the practice of mindfulness to go a little deeper even and create understanding and compassion to help heal those places of pain and find our happiness. Of course, it’s a lot easier to say this than to do. But if you’re tired of relieving pain, and you’re ready to try kindness and understanding, you’re halfway there.
Let Go
Release is one of the best feelings. So why not make it part of nurturing your happiness? We bind ourselves to so many things in this life that we limit our ability to thrive. Some of the things we attach to are things we believe are necessary to our happiness or our survival. Often times we don't realize that our belief that these things are essential is holding us back from more fully experiencing our lives and ourselves.
Think about what it feels like when you go through your closet and get rid of clothes, shoes, and accessories you no longer wear or need. How do you feel when you purge the junk drawer in the kitchen? It feels good to have a fresh start. Purging makes room for new beginnings. It’s a lot like pruning a plant. There is freedom in letting go.
Cultivate Seeds of Positivity
Seeds of positivity are simply the positive thoughts and ideas in our consciousness. If you think of these pleasant thoughts as seeds, then you know they need the proper attention in order to grow. By giving our positive and uplifting qualities and experiences more attention, these should be the thoughts that grow and eventually manifest in our reality.
Cultivating positive seeds doesn’t mean that there aren’t shadows or negative attributes and thoughts, it just means giving them less attention than more positive things. It also means finding the light in those negative things and working to embrace them.
Concentration is Key
A little concentration can go a long way. Concentration is a big part of meditation and mindfulness. Staying in the moment isn’t always easy to do. There’s anxiety and worrying about the future or the past, but when you find your mind letting go of your happiness, you have the ability to bring your thoughts back to the now or whatever happiness you wish. Concentrating on the moment allows you to dwell in the wonders of life, however small or big. And best of all, concentrating is easy to do.
Follow Your Bliss
Happiness is defined differently by different people. When you follow what makes you happy, it doesn’t mean you spend all day everyday shopping or snowboarding or eating cake. What it means is that you tune into your love and light, and you make choices that make you feel good. Start small with this one. You may choose to have a smoothie instead of coffee or to drive the long way home from work so that you can pass through that neighborhood with all the overarching trees. Once you begin to really dig into the habit of making choices that make you feel good and happy, you will start to notice that bigger and better possibilities are opening up for you.
Don’t expect your mindset to change overnight. Remember, the plan is to nurture happiness so that it is never any farther than a thought or a choice away. Changing our perspective on our lives and how we interact with it, is one way that we learn the art of surrender. Making peace with what is and our feelings towards that reality, allows us to find our present happiness while opening us to opportunities that will bring us future happiness.
