“Success is to laugh often and much…to appreciate beauty…to give of one’s self. To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good morning! Have you ever noticed how elusive happiness can be? When we chase it, it is like our shadow-it cannot be caught. We can’t mix together a few ingredients and instantly create happiness. We can decide that we won’t be derailed by negativity-but that alone won’t create happiness.

As I have made this journey of self-discovery with thousands of women, I have found it interesting how many people want to chase happiness down. They don’t realize that all the elements of happiness are already here. Looking for them somewhere else won’t bring them any closer than they already are. Trying to accomplish lengthy to-do lists and tasks before one feels happiness is a crazy expectation that we put on ourselves.

Why do we want to complete those lengthy to do-lists, anyway? Usually the answer is-so we can have a more balanced, happier life. How ironic is it, then, to be a slave to these to-do’s and schedules, to the point of giving up happiness today? Do we somehow honestly think that the happiness will be “better” later?

We need happiness every day because that is what inspires and motivates us in other areas of our lives. We can’t work the equation backward. “Once I accomplish this, this and this-then I’ll be happy and content.” It doesn’t work that way. Happiness has to be at our roots-at our core-it isn’t something we produce through accomplishment. When we put off realizing happiness, the harder it will be to find when it does comes our way.

Simply put, many of us have made happiness more complicated than it needs to be. Ironically, we have added happiness to our list of things we need “to do.” But this is life-and our to-do lists-will be ever-evolving, because we aren’t done until we are done living. So: do you want happiness to be on your list for another day? Or do you want to grab it now, and live it today? You won’t find happiness anywhere else except right here, and right now. Happiness needs “the moment” in order to live.

Your Turn:

How have you complicated happiness in your life? What do you feel you have to “get done first”? What rules have you added to this simple emotion? Happiness only needs the moment to live-that is its oxygen. How can you remove the barriers to happiness you have imposed and let it grow in your daily life?

Today’s Affirmation:

The only place where happiness exists is in the moment. I recognize and embrace the simple gift of happiness that only requires that I be present to enjoy it.

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