I Am Happiest When [No.28]

Posted by Jill Chivers in Happy

It hasn’t turned out quite the way I imagined

What I’ve noticed about this exploration into the landscape of happiness, which I’m now in my second half of, is that it hasn’t turned out that I’m happy all the time. I wasn’t sure what I’d discover when I started on this journey in December last year, but I suppose I had some dim fantasy that I’d be grinning like a clown and feeling buoyant and exuberant all the time.

It hasn’t turned out that way. I have about as many ups and downs as I did before I started on this journey.

But what I have discovered that is refreshing and wonderful is that my down times are shorter. They pass quicker and don’t last as long. For some things that used to really upset me, they are also less intense.

In short, my down times are still there, but they pass quickly and quite easily.

This is a huge bonus to my emotional wellbeing. To know and trust completely that I can feel down, but I don’t have to double the dose of unhappiness by getting all caught up in feeling down. It’ll pass. How do I know? Because it always does.

That’s why it’s a universal principle. It works all the time.

I think of this as excellent news for anyone else who has struggled to maintain any quality of happiness in their life. When you really get it, and trust this principle will work for you every time, it takes a huge weight off your shoulders. It has from mine.

I am happiest when (#28)

I get my morning walk in. Nothing sets me up for a good day, even a great day, than a morning walk. Near where we live is a long, beautiful, tree-lined pathway that is tailour made for a morning walk. In summer, when it’s very hot here even early in the morning, it provides sensational shade cover. It’s like a gorgeous green tunnel. I walk from the beginning to the end, and the whole thing takes about 40 minutes. Which is a perfect morning walk time. There’s something about being in nature first thing in the morning, and moving your body, that taps you in, that tunes you up, and that gets you ready for whatever the day holds.