01 Apr How to cultivate happiness…when it’s really hard!
I love this article because as the title suggests, it's important to focus on cultivating happiness at all times.
We all have good days and good weeks, when almost everything seems to go right; and during those times happiness comes pretty easily.
And it's great.
But we also all have times when things don't go so well; in fact there are times when it seems nothing's going our way.
But that doesn't mean we have to give up on happiness!
It might be harder on some days or during some periods but, as this article suggests, there are still things we can do to bring about happiness even when it's really hard!
by Smita Malhotra via the Huffington Post
It is easy to choose happiness when we are sitting on the peaks of our lives. But what about when we are lost in the valleys? On those days when we find it hard to put one foot in front of the other, we are tested to go deep.
It is then that we realize that searching for happiness outside of ourselves is a recipe for failure, because happiness doesn't lie in our job promotion, our new house or even in our bank account.
It is in the reality that we create for ourselves through our thoughts.
This became evident for me when I first experienced the loss of a family member. You see death is the great equalizer. Not to be morbid, but the truth is that everyone on this earth is going to the same place.
In the end, two things will matter:
Were you happy?
and
Did you make others happy?
If we can master the art of cultivating happiness even when times get hard and when everyone around us would expect us to be anything but happy, then we are truly the masters of our own destiny.
Here are three ways to cultivate happiness even when it is hard:
1. Realize that everything is temporary
Whenever I was going through a rough time, my father would always say "remember that everything is temporary." It is this same phrase that I have repeated to myself through the trials and tribulations of life.
Whether I was going through the break up of a relationship or the loss of a loved one, realizing that everything is temporary is what carried me through my grief and helped me to go forward.
You have every right to allow yourself the time to feel sad and grieve. But realize that your feeling of sadness will eventually turn into acceptance and your feeling of being overwhelmed will eventually turn into calm.
This is the way of life. Our feelings come and our feelings go. What remains constant is the way that we process those feelings.
Everything dear friend, is temporary. And you too will get through this.
2. Reach out to your village
It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, but I believe that it takes a village to raise and sustain humans…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE