I always wanted a tattoo growing up. I thought they were so cool. Of course my mother forbade me until I was 18 and “out from under her roof”. I wound up waiting until I was 34 and my sister Missy and I went together to get them. We had both put a lot of thought into what we wanted, knowing it would be there for…well…ever!
The message that I wanted to share with the world in the form of artwork on my body was the Chinese symbol for Happiness. Why Happiness? For me that sums it all up. If I’m happy then everything else in my life is on track. Happiness for me encompasses all.
What I have learned over the years about real happiness is that it comes from within. We cannot depend on others to make us happy. We cannot depend on circumstances to make us happy. We must find happiness from within and then the stars, the moon and the planets all line up and life unfolds for us.
A few weeks ago I heard Cheryl Richardson interview Robert Holden, the Director of The Happiness Project, which quite literally teaches people how to be happy. I was so jazzed and excited to learn that something and someone like this existed, that I knew I had to share it with YOU!
Below you will find the steps to an exercise called “Life Lessons” that Holden uses in his 8 week workshop. We have focused a lot of our conversations lately on turning our energy to what IS working in our lives. What better way to do just that then to get clear about what it means for YOU to be HAPPY!
Before you begin, give your SELF the gift of creating some sacred space to do this. Again, how we do anything is how we do everything. So make this important. Grab your journal, your favorite drink and go somewhere that you will be uninterrupted. A place that makes you happy!
Here are the 3 parts to this exercise:
1. Begin by taking a long deep breath. Then turn your attention to the story of your past. What would you say is one of the most important lessons you have learned about happiness up to this point in your life? What does this lesson want to tell you about happiness? How well have you learned this lesson?
2. Reflect on your life right now. What is life trying to teach you now about true happiness?
3. Take another deep breath. Now imagine that you can somehow see the entire shape of your life. From beginning, including the now and the future and even the completion of this life. What do you think is the primary soul lesson you have come to learn about happiness in this lifetime?
What a powerful and effective tools this is to help you get present to your source of happiness. I hope you take the time to complete it! If you don’t want to do this by yourself, share it with a friend, or your partner! Just do it, you will be HAPPY you did!
Aimee Yawnick has been mentoring women to make personal growth and development a priority for over 15 years. First, in the Health and Fitness Industry, now as a Personal Life Coach. With proven tools and systems Aimee helps her clients move swiftly and smoothly from a life of just going through the motions and merely existing to being an active participant and living life to the fullest!
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