Happiness

Until very (very) recently I believed it was my responsibility to keep my loved ones happy.

Silly me.

Talk about enabling.

We were all born happy and it’s our own responsibility to keep our Happiness Tank Full.  It’s an inside job. But I somehow got it into my head that because I’m basically a happy person, it was my job to keep everybody else happy, too.

Nope.

If I’ve got a job, it’s to teach other people how to be happy. How? By being happy myself. My only problem with this is I’m pretty empathetic and it hurts (sometimes physically) to see others in distress. But that’s not your problem. It’s mine, and I’ll sort it out.

I’ve been reading a book called The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. It’s about doing little things each day that are easy to do and will compound, build momentum and bring success. The problem is, most people don’t do them because the actions are just as easy not to do. And, there’s no instant gratification. Because you can’t see immediate improvement, you stop. Gotta take the tortoise approach: Slow and Steady Wins The Race.

In the book, there’s a chapter on happiness. Because happy people are successful people. Not the other way around. Success didn’t make these people happy. They were happy before they were successful. Olson talks about another individual, a Shawn Archer, who studied happy, successful people and made some conclusions he called Happy Habits. I took a picture of said habits. There are five of them. I may be a happy person, but I can sometimes use a little help getting there. Here ‘s the picture:

I’m starting to do the grateful thing and the 15 minute daily cardio thing.

Remember way back when (before Mr. Al and I journeyed to Hawaii) I was taking an online workshop called Legacy given by Amber Kuileimallani Bonnici and Shiloh Sophia? It  consisted of layers of painting on one canvas while taking a journey into self-discovery. I posted the first layer of my ancestors last month. Here it is again:

Yesterday, I finished the course and I finished the canvas.

The final layer was a portrait of an archetype you discovered during a guided meditation into your unconscious. I didn’t know her name until I was all done and ready to sign my canvas.

Here she is, the TEACHER OF HAPPINESS

I leave you with a picture of our final sunset in Hawaii, an evening to remember, complete with Tiki Torches.

Have a great week, Peeps!