Happiness is a feeling, not a state
I’ve been waking up super early, right after the sun makes an appearance, the last couple of days, and after checking in on any new music, I have been listening to these super short and super awesome episodes of the podcast, “An Audio Guide to Happiness.” So many interesting tidbits that are backed by evidence-based research.
Do you feel socially awkward? There’s an episode for you. Are you an introvert? Episode for you. Do you need to learn to practice self-compassion (ding ding ding for me)? Episode for you, friend.
One of my favorite bits of advice in the episodes I listened to this morning… Spend your efforts working toward experiences, not things. Memories of experiences are filtered to make sure you focus on the more positive aspects rather than the negative, stress-filled moments.
Without going too deep, I will say that for me, happiness is on occasion something I have to breathe and wait for, inch toward, dragging a heavy, soppy mess that is myself. For those of you who understand that feeling, I don’t have to say this, but for those of you who do not, it has nothing to do with feeling unsatisfied or even necessarily generally unhappy (weird, huh?). Though, i will say, I’ve learned that happiness is a FEELING, not a STATE. My life is everything I’d want, and I would never say otherwise even on my darkest days. But still, there is heaviness, on occasion. And fighting it has become something I’m very good at. I’ve found things that help (some being: gym, making sure I eat enough, vitamins, talking to those I love, being honest in all aspects of my life, accepting my flaws).
I feel like that girl in Mean Girls, where they’re doing the trust fall thing, and there’s the one girl who doesn’t even go to their school who says, “I just have a lot of feelings.” Or. Something like that. Feel the way that you feel and give yourself permission to (another bit of advice from the podcast)!
Why am I sharing my soul? Well. Again, without going too deep, I think it’s important for everyone to talk more. We’re all more similar than you’d think. Even beautiful things can be painful. I don’t need to talk about recent events. You know them. Let’s teach our children that it’s okay, and normal, to feel.
During an exercise with The SpitFire Coach Lauren LeMunyan Coaching, LLC at The SpitFire Circle – Group Coaching for Business Owners (check it out if you’re looking for an inspiring group of small business owners to sit and chat with–I’ve walked away with only amazing vibes, each session), we identified my super power as being an EMPATHIC GUIDE. How bad. ass. is that? It has rung true with many of my clients that I show their truth, but in a way that they hadn’t seen or realized it yet. They fall more in love with what they are, who they spend their time with, and where. Sure I feel so many emotions, and usually with my clients, they are the happiest of the happy emotions, but even when they’re somewhere in the middle, maybe, when you look at your portraits and remember, I hope they help to filter out some stress and sadness, and lighten your load.
