05/ 05/ 2015
I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness lately, wondering how some people appear to be happier than others. I don’t mean for it to sound like I’m making any assumptions, I mean, I realize that happiness isn’t easy to maintain. Some of the happier people I know work at it incessantly. They struggle and are insecure like the rest of us, but they’re able to cope and remain separated from their hardships. It’s something I’ve recognized before, being able to not let your circumstances define you.
I struggle with being happy, and honestly, I tend to be a bit jealous of those that can find and maintain contentment. What makes it different for them and why are they more capable of positivity? To say it a different way, how are they able to stay so separated from their baggage and not let it negatively affect them?
After percolating on these questions, I kept coming back to the practice of mindfulness. It’s an approach to life that I have never been very good at, but the idea is to focus on the emotions and events of the present moment. As a professional catastrophizer, I’ve never been very good at this. In fact, a big part of my job is always being two steps ahead of everyone else, planning for the worst case scenario (while trying to avoid it happening all together).
But this past month, I decided to be more proactive about practicing mindful living. I started each morning with a meditation, and if I found myself distracted by work and/or other thoughts when I should have been focusing on who I was with in the moment, I tried to pull myself back, not becoming so distracted by the future.
While I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered anything, it’s been a revealing process: I spend way too much of my time thinking about work when I’m not working; I rarely live in the moment—I’m always in the future; and I must continue working at slowing down.
I’ve also decided that happiness is possible and not just available to a select few. It takes commitment and must be worked on… a different challenge in and of its self.
I love this post. Mindfulness is so hard! One of my new year resolutions this year was to practice being present (essentially being mindful). I tend to focus more on the future or anywhere other than where I am. It is a struggle but I’ve heard that the only way to get better is to practice! I’ve also read that mindfulness is a very powerful technique in not letting our thoughts have too much power over us. There is a podcast, Invisibilia, that has a really interesting episode on the power of thoughts (and discusses mindfulness a bit too). You should check it out if you are interested! xoxo-Bekkah
So glad to hear that I am not the only one who struggles with this! I’ll definitely have to check that podcast out. Hoping you are well–would love a catch up session soon! xo