Habits of happiness

Today we struggle with the idea of happiness. We think we have to work towards it, like a goal that someday we will reach it and can finally be able to say we are happy.  I had a favorite phrase that said: "I'll be happy when...." (fill in the blank). I will be happy when my health improves, I'll be happy when I have a child, I'll be happy when I get a job, I'll be happy when I have a new car, etc. (And since then I have learned a new way of speaking and thinking!)

But what if you could be happy right now, in the situation you are in today? I know it's possible.
I can share tips on ways to elevate your present situation. You'll be amazed at what a little shift of thinking can do for you!
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Tip #1 Feel Your Feelings    (Tips are in no particular order, in fact I like to save the best for last!)

One of the greatest barriers to experiencing more love and happiness is the habit of avoiding emotional pain and negative feelings. 
The purpose of feeling your feelings is not to get rid of them, but to let them fulfill their purpose—which is bringing our awareness to the things in our lives that need our attention.


An Exercise To Feel Your Feelings

1. Close your eyes. Now think of a negative feeling that you resist, avoid. (Pause)
2. Notice where that feeling is located in your body. (Pause)
3. Now recall how you feel when lying in a hot bath.  Feel the warmth of your body. (Pause)
4. Use your memory to recreate that feeling of expansion, relaxation and openness. (Pause)
5. Bring that sense of warmth and bodily relaxation into the negative feeling you have been resisting. (Pause)
6. Notice how your body relaxes and expands and the stuck feeling starts to move or dissolve. (Pause) 

Now take a moment or two, deep breath, and open your eyes.

To be unconditionally loving you must also expand your capacity to love yourself the way you are—not the way you think you should be—by practicing feeling your feelings, and having acceptance for yourself no matter what. 
Unconditional self-love means treating yourself the way you would treat a beloved friend.
Just feel.