What is true happiness?

True happiness is a state of mind, it isn't the amount of money in your bank account.  It isn't landing that perfect job or living in the house of your dreams.  True happiness comes from within.  In finding your own place in the universe and making your life you own.  It also comes from finding your purpose or gift and learning to utilize that skill to find what you seek.

True happiness can be found in the oddest of places. Perhaps it is in volunteering your time to help others, perhaps it is pursuing a dream that you entertained as a young child but due to life's pressures you gave up on.  Perhaps it is just being the best you that you can be.  Perhaps it is a hodgepodge of all these things combined.

True happiness comes from within. It is a place in your heart and soul that no matter what else is going on on in your life you can escape to and find calmness and contentment.  It may spending an hour painting at your easel.  Perhaps it is finding time to soak in that hot tub filled with bubbles up to your chin. Perhaps it is losing yourself in a favorite book, allowing your mind to escape and meld with the characters and story line.

True happiness does not come monetary gains, or surrounding yourself with only the best. Many women find temporary happiness in what I like to refer to as retail therapy.  This is the uncontrollable urge to shop till you drop.  Buying things that may for the moment give you happiness but later make you wonder how you are going to meet that minimum payment on your credit cards next month.

True happiness does not come from something that later down the line is going to make you feel worse than you already do.  It isn't about dreaming of that success only to find that once you are there you no longer have time for family and friends.  It is about finding that one or two or half a dozen things that bring you inner peace and mental awareness.

Sometimes people think that if they just survive this or they manage to obtain that they will find true happiness. This is a fallacy created by our society to make you work harder, longer hours to obtain a false sense of what you want.  It isn't real nor is it truly obtainable. Granted you may get that corner office or actually buy that huge dream house. But then the problems begin.  With the corner office comes the stress of having responsibilities, and once you get that huge house then you have to clean it, pay for it, as well as keep it secure. Money does not buy happiness. Things do not buy happiness.  Happiness is a state of mind.

Happiness is a state of mind that comes from being happy with who you are. Being true to yourself always and not allowing the actions of others to dictate how you live your life.  Sometimes true happiness is found in just finding the time to mentally recharge your batteries, be that on an extended cruise or losing yourself in the moment of pure bliss.

Happiness is different for different people. We all have different things that make us happy, some of this is due to our upbringing, some of this is due to our mental processing of ideas and situations, some of this is due to environment and what we interpret happiness to be. It is time to take a long hard look into your psyche and discover where your happiness lies.  It is time to begin the journey of self discovery and find what brings us true joy and happiness.

Never let another tell you that you will be happy if you do this or you obtain that.  That is not true. Only you can know for sure exactly where your happiness lies.  Only you can know what will flip that inner trigger to allow your mind, body and emotions to unwind, destress, and become whole again.  Only you can figure out what you need to do to find your own bliss.

Today is Wednesday and that means that I will be sharing a website that I found very helpful in my own personal journey of self discovery. I read this article and found it to be very insightful for discovering where my inner bliss lay.  It helped me refocus my energies and take a long hard look at my own life and what in it made me happy, what in stressed me out, and what about my life worked or didn't work.  It is called 7 New Ways to be Happy.

 7 New ways to be Happy

Now I am not a huge fan of Oprah, I don't watch her shows or subscribe to her newsletter or even read her magazine but sometimes you can find information in places you rarely visit simply through googling a subject and following the threads to unravel the secrets of life.  Some things you find may fit your personal situation and others may not, as I have said many times before everyone is different.  But take what you can from those you find that you feel will help you and the things that don't apply either file away for another time or ignore.

I cannot tell you how to find your own personal bliss, I can only share with you things I found useful and hopefully encourage you to find your own true happiness.  I hope this blog finds all those who take the time to read it well.  I hope that today you do something, although it may be minor but something to either discover your own bliss, or move one step closer to realizing your own bliss.  I hope that the new year brings with it the journey of self discovery and the chance to become all that you were born to be. Until Tomorrow, be safe, be sane and be well.