Develop le petit bonheur
In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. —Brother David Steindl-Rast
Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. —Denis Waitley
Everything we have and everything we enjoy, including our very life, is due to the kindness of others. In fact, every happiness there is in the world arises as a result of other’ kindness. —Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
There are times when it is hard to believe in the future, when we are temporarily just not brave enough. When this happens, concentrate on the present. Cultivate le petit bonheur (the little happiness) until courage returns. Look forward to the beauty of the next moment, the next hour, the promise of a good meal, sleep, a book, a movie, the likelihood that tonight the stars will shine and tomorrow the sun will shine. Sink roots into the present until the strength grows to think about tomorrow. —Ardis Whitman
Happiness doesn’t depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little and miserable with much. —William Dempster Hoard
The secret of happiness is the realization that life is a gift, not a right. —Unknown
Are you still running after the idea “I will be happy when…” I’ll be happy when I lose weight. I’ll be happy when I find my soul mate. I’ll be happy when I have more money. I’ll be happy when all the stars align and sun and moon are shining bright in the sky. What if (and I know I’ve never said this before [yeah right, she whispers under her breath])—what if—even if for five minutes—you choose to BE happy—not now but—RIGHT NOW? What do you think will happen? The things you are chasing in your “when I” scenarios do not matter. How do I know? Well, I am glad you asked… I know for a fact that as soon as you, if ever, achieve your “when I” you will immediately find another “I will be happy when…” to chase to justify your want to be right about how you are so hard done by and you never get what you want. Seriously though, if you want to BE happy here’s a few simple things that you can practice every day to bring about your inner peace, joy and complete happiness:
Practice gratitude – your life is pretty remarkable and you take for granted so many pleasures of life as rights instead of privileges. I mean you life cannot be that bad… How do I know? Well, you are reading this right? You either have access to electricity and WIFI or you are physically holding my book. Either of these things are a blessing, a great benefit. I know I get aggravated and perturbed with my life all the time but what I always realize in the end is that “I am alive” so are you and what I have learned is because I/you am/are alive, everything is possible. Be thankful for what you have because how will you ever have more if you are not appreciative for what you already have.
Drain your moat – how can anyone ever love you are help you out when they can’t even get to you? Learn to let go and directly ask for the things that you need. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many people in your life are willing to give you exactly what you want…all you have to do is ask.
Stop your stories – you know what I am talking about. Stop all those made up meaning and reasons to why things are the way they are and people are who they are. Seriously, stop it. They are just your opinions (and beliefs) and everyone has them and most of the time yours are not the same as everyone else’s either. What other people do is their business and what you do is your business and never do the two intermingle—ever!
Maintain your integrity – if you make a mistake of you are a jerk or you just cannot make the deadline then, for heaven’s sake, tell the affected party that you get the impact you’ve had and commit to doing what you need to either get the job done or clean up the mess you created. It’s that simple. You are only as powerful as your word.
Offer kindness – it is far better to create a smile than it is to mend a heartache. Learn to come from love and love will be all that you ever receive. When you think you have nothing to give…give your smile, it may be the best part of someone’s day. Love is always the answer.
Stop your monkey mind spewing its repetitive critical self talk – you know exactly what I am talking about too. All that stuff you allow your monkey mind to say to yourself about how incompetent you are or how you can’t do this and you can’t do that for such and such reason and/or excuse. Yeah, you know what I am talking about, that stuff. STOP IT! We are all insecure. We all have fears. We all secretly just want to be accepted. Here’s a little exercise I invite you to do that helped me with my own self-worth. What you will need is a $100 bill (or the highest denomination you can get). Okay you got it in your hands? Good. First of all state what value the bill has that you are holding in your hands. [It’s worth one hundred dollars, she states proudly because she is confident she knows the answer.] Now I invite you to crumple the bill up into a tiny ball. Now, throw it on the floor! STOMP on it as hard as you can. Scream at it as loud as you can: “YOU ARE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP AND YOU’LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!!” Now, STOMP on it again for good measure. Okay, pick up the bill. Smooth it out and hold it. Now state what value the bill has that you are holding in your hands. [It’s worth one hundred dollars, she states sheepishly because she knows the answer.]
Think about it…
Love and Sunshine,
Tracy
