On the 1st January 2016 I declared to myself that this year would be my year and that I would find more happiness in my life. I won’t say that in the past I have been sad or neglected myself because that certainly isn’t the case but I feel now that my only child has somewhat left the nest I can let go a little of my responsibilities and give myself more time.
So I am going to put myself first – after all I can not offer love, help and support if I can’t give that to myself. It is to be a year of nourishing myself to be the best version of me. This is not a selfish act but an awakening that it was about time that I gave back more to myself in return for a little more happiness.
I Was Lost
At the end of last year, after 4 long years of some serious injuries that meant living in pain and restricted movement I had many self doubts about what my real purpose was. Consequently I was LOST – it’s very hard to describe the feeling but I’m sure if you’ve been there you’ll know it!! I truly felt like I was on a Merry Go Round – a pretty one at that , but not going anywhere fast!! I suppose though better being on the Pretty Merry Go Round than the Tea Cups or Roller Coaster!! But regardless I had to have a good hard chat with myself because I wasn’t liking this feeling. One morning as I scrolled through my facebook notifications I landed on this quote:
“Everyday the world will grab you by the hand yelling:
This is important !
And this is important !
You need to worry about this, And this And this!
Each day , It’s up to you to yank your hand back, put in on your heart and say
No this is what’s important!”
How I Got My Mojo Back
How did I start? … a dear yoga participant who is now a wonderful friend gave me a 2016 Wellness Diary (see picture above) it was beautiful filled with a weekly quote and room to schedule all my daily tasks. Being in many places in a day I need something small and portable to run my life so my phone calendar is my private secretary I really don’t have a lot of room for paper diaries – BUT I love paper, I love notebooks, Journals and I love Coloured Pens … Solved, the Diary was now my personal daily Gratitude Journal and Inspirational Quotes book.
Happiness Tip #1 – Keep A Gratitude Journal
Keeping a Gratitude Journal helps you better appreciate all the good there is your life. More importantly the simple things. Remembering the things that you are happy to have in your life can really put a smile on your face. Research from the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine found that keeping a Gratitude Journal lowered peoples levels of stress and anxiety and increased their happiness in 3 weeks. The best part of the Gratitude Journal is that there is no right or wrong way to do it and only you every get to see it. Over time it begins to come naturally and you start to see good in everything.It allows you turn situations around as you take time to reflect on the day.
Each day I schedule in my phone a 3pm reminder to sit down and write in my book (I know I’m usually always home at this time) and it helps me stay consistent with my journaling.
Happiness Tip #2 – Use Of Affirmations & Quotes
I love Affirmations and Quotes I particularly love them posted over beautiful pictures. I think it stems back from the days when I use to hand out the Wisdom Cards at the end of class and we would all take one and read our good fortune for the week. The smile and warmth these quotes would have on me each time I would read them from my many Facebook, Pintrest and Instagram follows always made my face beam and my heart feel lighter. Though after reading them I felt like I wanted to bottle them up and keep them forever and just keep reading them over and over again – simply because they made me feel so happy .
Another use for the Wellness Diary – each day when I find a beautiful Quote it goes straight into the Journal – written in a coloured pen and sometimes even shared with a loved one. Affirmations, Inspirational Quotes, Mantra’s are wonderful tools to uplift you particularly if you are feeling a little cloudy … Here are a few of my favourites:
- Broken Crayons still colour
- Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations
- Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get
- Meditate: because sometimes Goggle doesn’t know everything
- When you have more than you need build a bigger table, not a higher fence
Happiness Tip #3 – Listen To Your Favourite Music
Finally how can you not be happy when you listen to your favourite songs. Music can boost your mood , it can remind you of favourite times and it can also give you solace in its lyrics. Some of the most poetic advice can come from song lyrics. Best of all I like to dance to my favourite songs or as one of my dearest friends calls it “Joyful Movement” and we all need a bit of that in our lives. Joyful movement has been proven to boost your overall happiness and improve your mental health. I have a few go to tunes I do like to sing along to:-
- Anything Neil Diamond because it reminds me of my childhood;
- Any Australian Band from the 90’s because it reminds me of the many Wednesday nights at St George Sailing club (no doubt underage??) and
- Anything nostalgic from Fleetwood Mac because it just feels good.
For my Pilates class this Term I created a playlist titled the Happy Album and its got the top 10 Happy Songs voted on ITunes. I now scrap the chit chat on the radio and the multiple adds and have downloaded my favourites onto a playlist and listen to them on my commute to work, then I am guaranteed an awesomely happy to start to the day.
Remember … “For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness” (Ralph Emerson)
Let’s legalise HAPPINESS!!
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