Dear Friends,

This month's insight on happiness was fun to think about and to write. In these interesting political, environmental, and economic times, I encourage you to embrace your own sources of happiness.  There's nothing like positive energy to open the doors to new perspectives.

My best to you!
Claudette

Happiness

I've been pondering the concept of happiness lately - as in what would it take for me to be happier?  After going through a big, albeit positive, transition, I had fallen partially off of the happiness grid. I approached the topic with a genuine curiosity and as such, the universe responded with interesting answers.

I should present the caveat that these answers - while universal in their application - are somewhat specific to me, what I believe and how I operate in the world. I offer them to you to stimulate your thinking about who you are, what you believe and how you operate in the world.

There's no blueprint for happiness, and if I polled 20 different people on the definition, I'd most likely gather a wide range of answers.

Over the course of a week, here are the notes I jotted down on a hot pink piece of note paper. (By the way, the hot pink note paper made me very happy.)

• Be present with the joy in any situation. We have the opportunity for joy in most situations; sometimes you might be challenged to find it, but it always lurking, waiting to be seen.
   
• Be present with your emotions - all of them. If joy isn't in the picture, be present with your other emotions. Emotions generally fall into the following camps: mad, sad, bad or glad. If you're not in the "glad" camp, are you mad, sad or bad? Emotions are simply a form of information - they reveal our thoughts, beliefs and unconscious processes to us. So many of us spend an inordinate amount of energy attempting to avoid our feelings. You can't shift into something better until you get present with what you're feeling.
   
• Dive into discomfort. In addition to avoiding our emotions, many of us try almost anything we can to avoid feeling discomfort. We search for ways to climb over it, burrow under it and skedaddle around it.  The problem is of course that the only way out of discomfort is through it. That's the simple truth. And the road through discomfort leads to a kingdom of growth, expansion and greater joy. Diving into discomfort is always worth it.
   
• Avoid avoiding. Ahhh ... good old avoidance. A technique that many of us have unconsciously mastered and probably use a variety of methods to accomplish. A few of the most common ones are: food, alcohol, over exercising, denial, excuses and of course the sudden and overwhelming urge to focus on a project, task or issue you had previously discarded as boring, unimportant or not worth your time. Tip: When the previously uninteresting is miraculously transformed into the interesting, ask yourself what you are avoiding.
   
• Focus on what you can control. Yes, that's right. Focus on what you can control. If you have no control over it, why focus on it? Let go and allow it to be what it is.
   
• Observe what is "perspective dependent" in your life. I woke up last Sunday morning and my first thought was, "Oh god, I have so much to do today and I don't want to do any of it." Not the best way to start the day. Then I noticed that the sun was out and my thoughts took a positive turn; as my perspective shifted so did my outlook on the day.  A while later, I was sitting on my living room couch, drinking coffee and reading my favorite magazine. Then my beau called, which was nice. Then I decided that in between writing sessions, I would run an errand or two and go to the gym - giving myself natural breaks in the writing. In the end, I had quite a lovely day. All it took was a shift in perspective.

I recently asked my six year old if he was happy. He said, "Yes, I'm always happy." This statement is of course not entirely true, but does speak to his overall sense of well-being. What would it take for you to be happy the majority of your time here on earth?

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Products & Services

If you liked today's issue, you'll love these services!

• Coaching with Claudette. Does happiness elude you? Are you curious to discover ways to tap into your own joy?
  
  Please contact me today for more information and to schedule your introductory coaching session. Reach me directly at 781.316.1923 or claudette@metavoice.org.
   
• Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. I'm a long time fan of the MBTI – this instrument is one of the reasons I became a coach. Here's how it works: I send you the MBTI, score it for you and spend an hour with you (via phone) helping you apply the results to your life – personally and professionally. For more information, please visit http://www.metavoice.org/mbriggs.
   

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Useful Resources

• Quote by Marcel Proust. I've always enjoyed this quote; it sparks my imagination time and time again.
  
  "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
  
  
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. According to Gilbert, what makes us happy and we think will make us happy are often two different things. Based on Gilbert's research, this book helps us to understand that sometimes we literally stumble on to happiness.

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