Is it okay to pursue happiness? Is happiness solely tied to consumerism or accomplishment?
If you’ve listened to podcasts or read recently released novels, you’ve most likely heard a conversation re-defining the phrase, "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness", in a negative light. Conversations debating the pureness and helpfulness of this "pursuit" challenge the status quo, get attention, and may offer new insight on your life. We believe happiness is a great thing to have in your life and is a by-product of many other factors...
“Is happiness solely connected to consumerism? What if real happiness is found in additional arenas of life?”
Happiness and true joy are first built within. Countering the counter culture conversation (😄), we can experience moments of happiness from sources beyond material goods: playing games with friends, a “runner’s high” after jogging, or even tumbling in a generous pile of fall leaves. Perhaps happiness has been receiving poor press lately because happiness is not the actual internal destination we seek. If happiness is experienced in moments, then joy is the dimension many of us truly desire to live within.
“What does he mean? Joy and happiness sound like the same thing to me!"
Moments of happiness are beautiful and can contribute to raising our baseline of joy. Think of those moments of happiness as deposits into your bank account of joy. Joy is described as an internal state, a destination bursting with scenery to explore, a place our hearts reside within and a flourishing internal landscape. The inside job of growing joy will take effort and can be one of the most rewarding investments we may ever get to make.
“So what can I do to increase my joy?”
Practice Gratitude - Journaling or speaking about 3-5 things you are grateful for has been shown to increase our overall state of joy and positively reframe our mind's perception of our reality
Serve - Oof, a challenging one for us all! When we serve someone or someplace, we are transported out of a state of self focus. Serving can help us see how good of a life we truly have.
Forgive others - Forgiveness sets us free of past hurts, reduces stress, enables us to be more fully in the present, and provides space for joy in our internal storehouses where bitterness and resentment used to reside.
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