What is happiness? Perhaps, as Eckhart Tolle explains, happiness is the absence of unhappiness.
Think about it for yourself. When are you happy?
Do you notice when you are happy? Do you say “Wow, right now I am happy!”
Or do we more often only look for happiness out of our unhappiness, misery, depression and loneliness?
The skill then, would be to cultivate happiness by noticing the absence of unhappiness. We could benefit from deciding to be happy and allowing the self to celebrate this “feeling good” state more each day. If we took stock more often of the stuff that is going right – we would be happy more often.
When it comes to happiness, it really is the case of “we are what we think about” as Earl Nightingale was promoting decades ago. We have all the tools and skills to cultivate more happiness in our daily experience.
What’s stopping you right now from celebrating all that is going well in this moment?
As a corporate trainer, I know that an audience can respond very quickly when coached to call up the feeling of happiness. I often direct groups of people to increase the happiness in the room by the simple act of deciding to be happy. As a counselor, I know that we often need help getting some of our “junk” out of the way so that we have room for happiness. Happiness can get crowded out of our life if left unattended and uninvited.
What can you do right now to invite happiness into your present moment?