Have you been chasing health or body image improvements with the motivation of it creating happiness for you? That begs the question, what is happiness?
Happiness is a feeling you only get when you are in the moment. Whether it’s when you have achieved your goal, or simply let that goal go to focus on other priorities that make you grateful, true happiness is felt when you stop yourself in the present and you are no longer looking into the future to see when happiness will arrive. Happiness is here now. Look around you at something in nature, or something creative or inspiring, or anything you can be grateful for, and you will realise happiness is attainable in any moment if you are present and stop associating your goals with the arrival of happiness.
It is impossible to be grateful or happy at the same time as feeling anxious or depressed. You can only be in a state of growth or in a state of protection. A state of relaxation, or stress.
So what are we chasing then? What is the reward once we reach our goals?
At LYF, we believe the greatest rewards are discovered and developed on the journey. That’s where sacrifices are made, mental strength is built, character is grown, and where life is lived!
Life is the goal, and the journey. Be happy now, and the journey will be one big boost to your confidence, your mood, and your health! And the goal will be just another highlight, not the end of the track with nowhere left to turn.
Making the better food choice, helping someone, sacrificing something to achieve your goal, these are but a few examples of all the achievements you can be proud of every single day, and they will make you smile if you are doing them for the right reasons. Be proud of who you are, and proud of yourself every time you are working towards being a better you, whatever that means.
Being on this journey of committing a little thought each day to being a better you is the greatest habit you can take from this experience. Everything is either in a positive cycle gaining momentum towards better health, or a negative snowball rolling downhill and getting bigger and badder. A small positive thought about yourself, or simply a clear and happy mind for a moment each day will work wonders on your mind and body. Alone it may not seem to make an impact, but it causes other habits to change, thoughts to turn positive, tension to release, awareness of body to increase, and with every little incremental change throughout the body and mind another reaction is triggered, and another, and another. And before you know it you are staying calm in situations that previously gave you tension.
When it comes to our health, it is much clearer when we look at it with a big picture view. We have to keep reminding ourselves to take everything into account, to always see the big picture and neither neglect, nor get too focused on any one particular aspect of ourselves.
