How to Be Happy (ha ha ha)

Are you sure you need more money, stability, and love to be happy?

Hear me out…
What If You Already Have Everything Required For That State Of Peaceful, Radiant Joy You’ve Been Longing For?

Is it possible that you are standing in your own way, spiraling in a negative cycle of thoughts, or being overwhelmed by chronic skepticism?

These problems are some of the top reasons people aren’t happy today! These reasons for being unhappy come before money (I 100000% guarantee someone with $30,000 less than you even if that’s a negative number is happier than you are right now). They come before relationships (you know there are single folks happier than you, and people in “perfect” dreamy relationships who are less happy than you too). The fact is: YOU are the thing standing in your own way.

You Don’t Get To Be Happy Until You Pull Yourself Together And Take Responsibility For The Unhappiness You’ve Cultivated In Your Own Life Up To This Point.

You don’t need to dwell in it or beat yourself up, but you gotta wake up and look around. Other people didn’t force you to be unhappy, to see the gloom and doom side of things. Other people didn’t force you to need money and love and whatever else to validate you enough to feel a morsel of happiness.

You set the boundaries for your own happiness. So if you want to be happy now? You gotta get out of your own way- by first seeing the truth of what part you’ve played in getting where you are- and then by making a commitment to becoming the sunny solution!

When we’re unhappy, we’re usually looking for certainty. We want to know for sure we are taken care of, that our needs are met. We don’t want to have to rely on anyone, we want everyone we do engage with to be a certain situation- to meet our expectations or have no strings and expectations at all.

But the reality is that life doesn’t work that way!

Ambiguity is everywhere- so if you wait until everything around you is crystal clear to allow yourself happiness, you’re going to be dead in the ground first. Sorry, but it’s true.

So. . . what’s a human gotta do to be happy around here?

My answer? Slow down and dance!

There’s a common story that applies here. I forget who it’s attributed to, but the story talks about a man in the woods. He’s cutting down a tree with a dull blade, and someone comes along wanting to help- the poor man looks so worn out, he’s obviously been working for hours. “Would you like to take a break to sharpen that saw?” the visitor asks him.

The man’s response? “I can’t stop to sharpen the saw!! I will be here for hours longer cutting down this tree as it is!”

When you push yourself to some distant finish line before allowing yourself to be happy, just like the man with a dull saw, you’re going to take exponentially longer to get where you want to be.

What if, instead of waiting, you took just a few minutes each day to commit to shifting into happiness right where you are?

Making your journey more impactful starting right where you are?

Choosing the next best thing for yourself, regardless of the limitations and circumstances around you?

You Don’t Have To Hit The Breaks, Through Caution To The Wind Entirely, Or Give Up On What You’ve Been Working So Hard At.

Just. . . slow down and dance a little.

There’s no need to tap the breaks if you don’t want to, but you can ease off the gas for a second, you know? Give your engines a little breather. Whatever goal you’re working toward, whether it’s a beautiful dream life or just scraping by on your bills again, it’s going to be nearly meaningless to you as you reflect from your deathbed in a few decades. This time, right here right now? It counts. It’s your life. It’s more than just a grind, it’s a portion of the one and only life you get. So OWN that. Put that happiness first, in whatever way makes sense for you today.

My Biggest Lesson In The Pursuit Of Happiness Has Been To Make Space First!

Instead of trying to add a two-hour morning routine to your days when you’re already zapped for time and energy, aim to go to bed just 15 minutes earlier, and wake up 15 minutes earlier. Choose to spend those 15 minutes on something you absolutely love or something that lights you up to do as a gift for your future self. When you feel tempted to stay up late or hit snooze, remember what you’re doing this for. You are the biggest why you are ever going to get. You and your big why are what you can truly rely on, even through ambiguity and the chaos of life. Give yourself a few minutes per day with that in mind.

What might your life feel like after just 14 days of living like this? How about after 27 days? 4 months? An entire year?

Serendipity can’t arrive in your life if you have all the gates closed and doors barred.

Take a breath, sharpen your saw, make some space, and commit to the happiness you deserve today. Dance a little, and see how life dances back.

Honor the powerful moment you’re in today and the fact that this moment is just as much a part of your life as those dreamy house-on-the-hill moments. This second is yours. Make it count, not in the amount you produce, but in the depth and intention with which you choose to feel and be present. That is your true power. No matter your situation- love, money, business, family, wherever you’re pushing- you have access to a sense of joyful peace right now. Take it. Thank it for being available to you, and treasure it. Nurture it.

Enough waiting. Your happiness is right in front of you, get out of the way. Don’t you want this?

Written for you with love,

Jessica