Happy Things

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

Focusing on happiness whenever and wherever you can find it changes your vibration.

Looking on the bright side of life attracts you to those things. We’re not made to live in the darkness of a troubled mind, unfortunately that’s what our society focuses on.

Spectacularly wrong focus

Things such as:

Politicians and their lies. Shocking when you consider that no member of the public ever lies, and we all definitely want to hear the truth, as long as we’re going to like it. If we don’t we will never vote for you again!

Oh, and don’t tell us that we may be part of the problem, that would be too hurtful and injurous to our mental health. One speech like that and mental health services will collapse in on themselves.

Then there’s the bombardment of health articles, giving you lots of pointers towards nothing that sounds like fun. what’s wrong with “exercise will make you feel better” and not frightening us with why? Or a good diet will make you feel alive, strong, content, awake! Without making the food we can afford a scary thing.

All the violence on TV and in films, that in fact has transferred onto our streets, all too real and very difficult to deal with. TV news is getting close to being nominated for an award in the most violent continuing horror bracket.

Living an unnatural life where the country allows you 4 weeks, 7 bank holidays, and 104 weekend days a year to actually live. If you consider doing the washing, housework, food shopping, clothes shopping, ironing, decorating, and gardening, to be living. Gardening is pretty cool if you like it though.

Short story

You may think I’m fussy and you’re unaffected, but that grot goes in and stays in. Many people wonder how they could possibly have anxiety when there’s nothing wrong. Grot wears you down.

About 20 years ago there were traffic lights on food telling us that supermarkets were selling products that were spectacularly bad for us. Whilst filling aisles with sugary temptation, alcohol, cakes, biscuits…

When supermarkets didn’t exist you always had a bit of a walk to get those things, which at least helped. As did the fact that we couldn’t afford them, but even so, walking to get food is good.

I was telling a ‘friend’ this one day, the next she called me to apologise. She had mentioned that my anxiety was clearly out of control, in a polite way, but still ouch. She’d gone home and told her very sensible husband. He heard her out and replied “why do you think I irritate you by wearing earphones and listening to music in the supermarket? She’s right.”

What we’re unaware of is not to be ignored.

The bright side

We have the choice of where to put our focus.

As long as we consciously and deliberately place our focus on as much that is good, fun, happy, empowering, energising, and makes us feel alive, we are doing a great deal to counter all the things I’ve mentioned, and the many I haven’t.

It’s one thing to try to throw in a few quips to ease the tension, but the entire list would he 100 quips too far, and although lighter use of language helps, it can’t protect us. Happiness can and will.

So today I will be thinking about happy things, actively looking for them, turning them over in my mind, absorbing them. Allowing them to take first place in my mind and reign supreme.

Tips

Tell bad thoughts to go away, strong language is sometimes the more effective. Not that I know any of course.

Think in run-on sentences. I hate this job…but at least I have a job and there’s always something else out there; I will choose more carefully next time. Or, I wonder if I should do some on line studying or new training and get into something I care more about?

Start a journal specifically for the good things, and no matter how tiny the good moment, record it. Read it when you’re in the wrong mind space.

Buy a large jar, cut pretty coloured paper into strips, write good things on a strip every time they happen, put them in your jar. Open it on New Year’s Eve. A happiness jar is great training for kids, and can be a parent and sibling bonding moment while the whole family puts something(s) in their jar.

These things will get you started on a better path. And believe me I’m not being glib about life’s challenges. I had acute anxiety for over 40 years, and I was once told that I’d had the hardest life emotionally of anyone the speaker had ever met, and I didn’t deserve a moment of it. I’m not unaware of the challenges available to us but…

As often as possible, be happy. It’s a real tool that we can use, what’s more it’s free!

Deb xx