How often do we wait to be happy? How often do we think that all will be well once this or that is sorted? How often do we get caught up in striving for the next thing, or in reaching a certain benchmark, before we can relax or enjoy ourselves?
The truth is there will always be something to worry about. There will always be things that don’t seem ideal, or something else to attain. Which may seem depressing, but actually accepting this can provide us with a great deal of freedom.
We can decide to be happy anyway.
Whilst we’re waiting for test results, whilst we’re trying to get things in place, when we’re encountering setbacks, or when we’re not quite sure what the future holds, we can still be happy. We don’t need to wait.
Because there will always be something else to strive for, and somewhere else to get to. There will always be something else to tick off, or something else to fix or arrange. Something else that could pull us into a spin, if we let it.
We can know that our brains will always try to pull us off, they will always try to make us worry, in an act of self-protection. They’re trying to keep us safe. We can all get carried away with scary mental images and worst-case scenarios. Our brains can paint quite the pictures for us, and our bodies will follow suit as we feel our less than helpful thinking. But once we know this, we can do our best to dismiss the thinking that doesn’t feel good.
Our feelings actually give us really helpful information, to know whether what we’re currently thinking or believing is helping us or not. If we feel bad, we know we can dismiss this line of thinking, and that following it isn’t actually going to protect us or keep us safe, regardless of what our brains may be trying to convince us of.
If we feel well and peaceful, then we have a good indication that this is healthy thinking.
We can follow the feelings of peace and wellness, and any thoughts that brings us joy, and we can pay less attention to the thoughts that really don’t feel so good.
This is always a practice. We’re used to following the not such helpful thinking, as if our lives depend on it. Because it really feels at times as if they do! The thoughts can be so convincing and compelling. But if we know we can rely on our emotions to tell us if we’re heading in a helpful direction with our thinking or not, then we can use this as our guide.
We can trust that we all have a deeper wisdom within us, that will communicate when it needs to. This will be much more helpful and reliable than the scary thoughts our brains can produce, but we need to be able to hear this wisdom. Setting the intention to let our minds settle, and to not pay as much attention to our stirred-up thinking, will point us back in the right direction, and bring a sense of relaxation.
All the while this will allow us to be happy, in the moment.
We know that as long as we have minds, we will always have stirred up thinking, and we will always worry, regardless of how good or bad outside circumstances seem to be looking. There will be genuine difficulties to deal with, and there will be scary scenarios our minds conjure up for us, even when things are going well. Sometimes all the more scary the better things do seem to be going!
So, amidst all of this, knowing that it’s all part of the human experience, we can choose to be happy. We can choose to enjoy our lives, and to make that a priority. We don’t have to wait.
Life is here for the living. So, don’t wait for things to be perfect, or until there is nothing to worry about. There will always be something. But there will always also be an infinite well of love, peace and wellbeing within you, as well as a friendly and wise guide looking to support you, and to point you back towards your deepest truth and joy.
With love,
Kelly x