I Am Happiest When [No.42]

Posted by Jill Chivers in Happy

We’ve become impoverished

There are many ways to be and become impoverished. Financial impoverishment is often the most visible and unignorable. But you can become impoverished when it comes to your wellbeing, when it comes to your time, when it comes to your sense of loving life.

Too many of us are stressed, harassed and agitated too much, if not most, of the time. It is draining us of our ability to be and access to happiness.

When there never seems enough time to do all that needs to be done, let alone luxuriate in the experiences of your life — really take your time with them — then it’s almost impossible to feel happy and connected to your life.

When your constant emotional state is one of feeling agitated and anxious — worried about what’s happening now, what might happen in the future, what’s happened in the past – then connection to a sense of flow and joy isn’t possible.

When your psychological state is punctuated by stress and strain — when everything seems hard, all the time — then feeling like life is truly worth living, like it’s a privilege to be alive, is nigh on impossible.

This is why people who have time, and those who value and protect and nurture their wellbeing, are the richest people on the earth.

As you ponder your journey into the landscape of happiness, as I have done over the last 10 or so months, consider ways in which you can become richer in the truly valuable things in life.

I am happiest when (#42)

I have time. I’m fortunate in that my life, and the way I’ve set my life up, allows me to have time to enjoy things. I don’t feel harassed and rushed most of the time, as many people I know seem to. One of my favourite things is to spend a couple of hours reading in the afternoon, and not just on weekend afternoons. This fabulous new magazine for women, Womankind, is a new read I’ve just discovered and love. It’s described as “doing you the world of good” and so far, that’s true! What a treasure and pleasure to spend a couple of hours luxuriating in its pages!