Many of us believe that until everything is as we think it should be we can’t be happy. Not fully happy anyway.
We all have our favourite I’ll be happy when… statements.
I’ll be happy when…
I get that job / when I leave this job / when I lose weight / when I get married / when I’m single again / when the kids are at university / when the kids are married / when I get that new iPhone / when these exams are over / when I get my own car / when I can move out / when the mortgage is paid off / when this problem I’m dealing with is over / etc.
So what will you be until then?
What’s the point or the benefit in postponing your happiness until…? What if until… never happens? Does that mean you’ll never be happy? Of course not. So, why not choose happiness now – whilst you’re waiting for those untils…?
Even when our lives aren’t perfect, when we haven’t yet achieved those goals, and whilst we are dealing with situations that we may not like, we still have inside of us a huge reservoir of peace, joy and contentment. We don’t need anyone else’s permission to dip into that reservoir nor do we need for everything to be perfectly in place.
The future offers no guarantees. The past is over and done with. All we have is right now. And now is when we can experience happiness.
True happiness, joy and contentment come from within. These are internal states of be-ing that we can tap into rather than looking to external people or events to fill or drain our happiness tanks.
Instead of looking to the outside to make us happy on the inside, perhaps it’s time to start living from the inside out.
