To start 2012 this question has come up on the BlogHer Life Well Lived Panel:
How do you plan to create happiness for yourself in 2012?
I actually had been giving this sort of question a lot of thought even before receiving it and even before the new year began.
Isn’t creating happiness what we all want?
Forget those new year resolutions we all make each and every year:
- Lose Weight
- Workout Daily
- Eat Healthier
- Spend More Time Being Creative
Those are all good “lifetime” goals, but let’s make this year different. I know I want to live with more peace, joy and definitely more happiness right now!
Over the past few months I’ve been working with a mantra aimed at bringing myself more peace and happiness in the moment. I call it my loving kindness mantra. Basically, I try to reframe all those negative thoughts I can create about myself (if you’re like me, then you know we can be our own harshest critic) and instead, I work on creating an appreciation of what I am right now, in this moment not what I hope to be (or change into) “someday”.
All it takes is catching yourself making a negative statement and then reframing it.
For example, I tend to complain a lot about never having enough time for “everything”. Now, when I catch myself, I rephrase that thought to have an appreciation for how very full my life is.
You see, it’s all in how we look at it or phrase it. Sometimes it’s not that easy, but I find the more I do it, the better I get at it and the fewer times I have to reframe a negative thought I’m having.
And it seems to work because nothing has changed with me physically but emotionally I feel calmer and more present inside myself…and well, happier.
As Dr. Aymee (of the Life Well Lived panel) has written about here, being happy has everything to do with being present and living in the moment for truly that’s the only moment we have to work with anyways.
So, why not try to reframe any of those negative moments and thoughts you have into something more joyous creating more happiness for yourself and those around you.
To read more ideas about creating happiness for yourself in 2012, visit the Life Well Said panel here.
And, while you’re there, why not enter the Sweepstakes to win a Kindle Fire too!
Much Happiness to you all in 2012!
