Happiness: we all want it. Some know what it is, some think they know, and others have no idea of what it is. The truth for me, this truth is entirely extracted from my worldview. Happiness can only be defined individually. I heard Arthur Brooks a Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School say that happiness is a direction. Life is going to throw us good things, and bad things, we will struggle, we will be joyous, and that sum of those experiences can be called happiness. I loved the idea, of being able to experience happiness even if we experience rough patches.

Yes, we will experience a yoyo ride. Sometimes we will be up, sometimes we will be down, and the variation is the speed in which the yoyo goes up and down. Hopefully, you will discover that you are the yoyo-er and that you can use some tricks to level the downside of the yoyo. Does this make any sense to you?

Have you learned to believe that your glass is half-full or half-empty? How can we make it simpler? Your glass is not full, nor empty you just have water. The water in the glass is happiness.

Happiness does not have to be a feeling or an emotion. It can be a state of being, it can happen no matter the circumstances you are living.

Let me try and make my point with an example. I have seen this happen to entrepreneurs, writers, artists, and even starting doctors. Whenever you’ve decided on a target, a goal, a journey, an intention, a purpose, i.e. becoming a writer, you know that you will not earn a living as a writer at first, or be famous right away. It is paramount to be honest with yourself, about your true intention. Because if you are writing to become rich and famous. Well, there are no guarantees that will happen. What is at stake here is that you might give up and lose a lot of time pursuing something that does not come from something authentic within you. If you write because you love writing and there is nothing in the world you rather do than write, even if you do not attain fame and money from it. Just for the pure joy of exploring your creativity, describing the beauty around you or within, expressing yourself or sharing. By all means, dedicate and commit yourself to writing. Chances that you quit are slim because you truly love what you are doing. It comes from pure intent. You only have to find the courage to pursue it. Set a routine where you can write daily, and get some things published. Continue improving your writing, and get a job that pays the bills.

Some people might think well that’s not a happy life, and that writer might be struggling too with social expectations, what he is supposed to have, and what success looks like. I believe that to be a very cruel place to stand on. It takes a lot of bravery to make a stand for ourselves and acknowledge that the social view of success might not make us happy, the bank account, the job title, and the house might not give us the fulfilment we are looking for, we are longing for.

Maybe the life of a humble writer can give you so much more. Especially because they enjoy what you do, and it has nothing to do with pleasure. Enjoyment is far deeper. It has to do with feeding an interest that makes our hearts burst with excitement that results in feeling satisfaction, that sense of accomplishment that you get when you are doing something that means something to you. Perhaps it is as simple and profound as allowing yourself to keep your word to yourself, showing up and believing in yourself. Would that make you happy?

We allow our ego to get in the way of our happiness, and even more worrisome we allow the ego of society to block our happiness with this notion of what a successful person looks like. We are continuously being exposed to people on social media, selling that they are making so much money monthly. I understand we all want to make money, but does that make our hearts sore with happiness? Do we really want to do all that it entails?

And since we are part of society, we feed the ego of society. I want to invite you to celebrate people who are brave enough to do what truly brings happiness to their lives. We need that beauty in the world, we need to learn from their bravery, and from that fulfilment, we need the inspiration to allow ourselves to tap into that energy for ourselves. Sometimes it takes a comment, a like, or a share in your social media. That is encouragement, that's love, that's celebrating people. If you can do that for someone else it means you can do it for yourself and that's huge. And the most beautiful thing of all is that we create the energy to receive that same energy we are putting out there, that energy constitutes the extent of our abundance.

I wholeheartedly hope you get to experience stepping into the path that directs you to your own happiness, I am not sure how it looks for you, but I do hope you get to experience and acknowledge it, even if it's like a rollercoaster with its scary and extreme bits, that you would ride, again and again, it sounds a bit crazy? Maybe it is just as it is supposed to be, and that’s beautiful in its own right.

All of us on this planet struggle, stress, doubt and experience all the shades of life, you don’t have to do it perfectly, just do whatever works for you, try, fail and keep trying, learn to love that process or make peace with it if possible and experience the excitement of it later on.

I am sending you a big and tender hug, that makes you feel appreciated with a caption that reads: I believe in you, you got this! (whatever this is).

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