For many of us, happiness can be compared to an elusive butterfly.
Picture the scene – you are in your garden and you see a beautiful butterfly.
You try to move in closer for a better look, but every time you get close it flits to the next flower, just that bit more out of reach each time.
But you’re enchanted by its natural beauty so continue trying to move in closer for a better look, but each time you get close it flutters to the next flower.
Happiness can be likened to the butterfly, always just beyond our grasp.
We get so caught up and fixated by it as it’s so close. “If only”, “when”, “I wish” start to consume our thoughts and vocabulary more. “If only I had a better job”, “when I lose this extra weight”, “I wish I was in a better relationship”, the list is endless.
When we do attain one of our desires happiness still seems just outwith our grasp. We focus on the small detail of what is missing rather than the huge accomplishment we have achieved. When we focus on what is missing our unhappiness and dissatisfaction remains.
To achieve happiness in our lives we have to first be at peace within ourselves internally.
Happiness may be achieved by external events and situations but this tends to be a temporary fix unless we are happy within ourselves. Life typically is a series of ups and downs, waiting on these ups to deliver our happiness would result in living on a constant emotional roller coaster.
Our true happiness begins with our inner contentment.
Being happy with and embracing who you are as a person. Living your own life purposefully for yourself in every aspect – mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually (if that’s your thing). To fully accept ourselves and be at peace, we must have a sense of completion in all of these areas.
Neglecting even one of these areas can create a sense of something missing, emptiness.
If we are not content or happy within ourselves we start to look for cures to our feelings of emptiness from outside sources. When we start to pin our happiness onto external events, people or situations we start to chase the “elusive butterfly” and when we do not catch it we experience disappointment, upset, frustration and feeling incomplete.
Does your happiness come from within you? Have you nurtured the four important parts of who you are? Or have you neglected one of these parts and are experiencing emptiness?