Happiness - How to be happy and whole

There comes a time in your life when you realize that your happiness is your own concern. Unfortunately, what follows from that is the realization that you’ve been systematically depressing yourself all your life. I can confirm that you can turn those dynamics around. I have accessed my deepest wisdom on this and been able to assimilate it and bring it into every day life. Its a way of being called happiness, for want of a better world - word I mean! Your mission, if you should choose to accept it, is to cultivate a relationship with yourself. Simply make the decision to treat yourself well. Initially, you will not be able to hear yourself clearly, from under the blanket of denial and avoidance where our feelings have resided shame-facedly since we were young. Self awareness grows, however, with your commitment to listen to what you have to say and to notice with compassion the areas clouded by low self esteem and guilt.

Every moment you have the opportunity to make a new choice. Some of the ones I have made are to only give a minute to the negative thoughts of scarcity and not let the thoughts drench every cell in my body. To remember that everything and everyone in life is connected and I’m taking part in a playful and fluid movement of life, rather than a battle for survival. To build this sense of the whole, do what you love to do. Do it well, do it foolishly but make sure you do it. For me that has been academic life, playing the piano, riding, painting, knitting, cooking and swimming so far. Go for it and don’t stop because as you unblock your creative flow, you also open yourself up as a receptacle for ideas. An abundance of love, money and time get a chance to flow in for you to express. Because you have started to know and appreciate yourself, you’ll be able to give yourself credit for creating the turnaround and know at last for sure you deserve it. Bear in mind, everything you heal in yourself you are healing for everyone else too, so it is not selfish, it is time well spent.

Frances Micklem's book How To Live As One, a guide to clearing negativity and moving from old paradigm thinking to new