Do You Need a Reason to Be Happy?
If you can find a reason to be happy every day, that’s great! It means you have the ability to focus on the positive and not worry too much about the little things that might not go the way you want them to.
But what if you could be happy for no reason at all? How different would your life be if you could just be happy regardless of the circumstances in your life? Don’t think that’s possible? I assure you it is!
Take a moment and go watch children play. What do you notice? Children can live so wholeheartedly. Whatever they do, they do it with complete passion. They are totally immersed in what they are doing and just do whatever feels right at the moment.
And that’s the key. They act based on how they feel. They are not held back by their rational mind. That’s why they can be so happy. They do not need a reason (that’s what a rational mind wants) to be happy, but rather find happiness in whatever they are doing at the moment.
You don't need a reason to be happy
Why can’t adults act this way? Why do we need a reason to be happy? Often we even feel that we absolutely need something, like money, a fancy car, a vacation in an exotic location, a big house, love, you name it, to be happy.
But what we think we need is not the same as what we actually need.
We need nothing to be happy.
The truth is that adults possess the very same ability to be happy for no reason that children do. It’s just that we have unlearned that ability. Or more accurately, it gets buried under all the stress, worry and anxiety that our rational mind brings with it as it evolves and learns about the world.
Our ability to enjoy each moment is not lost and we can learn to get in touch with it again.
The key is to be “out of your mind”. The rational mind, that is. And the way to do this is to learn to embrace your emotions, all of them, in a healthy way.
And I’m not just referring to the so-called negative emotions. We all know what can happen if we repress our negative emotions. Repressed anger will turn into rage, envy will become jealousy, and sadness grows into depression.
Embrace your emotions
We repress our positive emotions too. When we feel a sudden urge to jump up and down for joy, our rational mind takes over and comes up with reasons why we shouldn’t.
It’s not the way adults behave, please remember your dignity. What will others think of you if you jump up and down and laugh out loud? Right?
That is no way to enjoy life! Let go of your rational mind for a change. Learn to embrace your emotions. All of them, the negative but especially the positive.
So how do you do this?
You are either rational or emotional
Let’s think of children again and the way our brain is wired. By observing children it becomes obvious that our brain cannot be rational and emotional at the same time. When children are angry, sad, frustrated or even full of joy, they will not listen to reason. That’s because they are fully embracing their emotions and the rational mind has no say in the matter.
If you want to handle an argument with a child, first deal with their emotions. Understand them, comfort them, and help them deal with their emotions. Once the flurry of emotions has passed, then discuss what happened, rationally.
With adults, usually, the opposite happens. We are so stuck with our rational minds that when we get emotional, we try to rationalize.
This applies to all of our emotions, negative as well as positive. When we are sad, we rationalize that there’s nothing to be sad about and repress that emotion. When we are angry we force ourselves to calm down and repress the anger.
Feelings are meant to be felt
Occasionally when we might feel joy, we still try to rationalize. We tell ourselves to take it easy and repress that emotion so as to not look childish or “unprofessional”. And what about love? How often do you express love to others?
By looking at the state of the world it’s pretty obvious that we express anything but love.
The solution is to learn to express your emotions. That’s what they are for. Feelings are meant to be felt. Completely.
Once you have felt the feeling as deeply and totally as you possibly can, then you will find that it no longer has control over you. You may even think “why did I feel like that in the first place?”. You are able to let go and move on.
Quiet your rational mind
You can help yourself immerse in your emotions by telling your rational mind to be quiet. The next time you feel sad, happy, angry, or any other emotion and you routinely start to repress that emotion, tell your mind “be quiet! I’m allowed to be happy/sad/angry etc.”. “It’s okay to feel this feeling and I’m going to feel it deeply and completely”.
You may notice that this is an effective way to instruct your rational mind. This blog post here explains in detail that your mind does what it thinks you want it to do. Therefore, tell your mind what you want to do and it will comply.
You can be happy for no reason if you learn to embrace the emotions that arise within you naturally.
Focus on how you feel
The only way to learn to deal with your emotions is to practice feeling them. We have all mastered the art of repressing our emotions so well, that there’s no reason why we can’t learn to do the opposite as well. It just takes some time and effort.
Start practicing and in very little time you will notice that you don’t really need a reason to be happy.
Your rational mind will try to convince you that you shouldn’t feel happy and that you may need something to be happy, but you can tell it to be quiet and just embrace the feeling of joy that you feel naturally.
Conclusion
You do not need a reason to be happy.
Children act based on how they feel and are not held back by their rational minds. That’s why they can be so happy.
Adults possess the same ability to be happy for no reason that children do. We only have forgotten and it gets buried under all the stress, worry and anxiety that our rational mind brings with it as it evolves and learns about the world.
Our ability to enjoy each moment is not lost and we can learn to get in touch with it again.
The key is to be “out of your mind”. The rational mind, that is. And the way to do this is to learn to embrace your emotions, all of them, in a healthy way.
Learn to express your emotions. You can help yourself immerse in your emotions by telling your rational mind to be quiet. This is a simple yet effective way to instruct your rational mind.
You can be happy for no reason if you learn to embrace the emotions that arise within you naturally.
Learn to deal with your emotions by practicing feeling them. In very little time you will notice that you don’t really need a reason to be happy and that you can find happiness in whatever you are doing at the moment.
Disclaimer
The entire contents of this blog are based upon the opinions of the author. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this blog is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care professional before trying any of the products or methods based on this content. I cannot guarantee that you will be free of stress, anxiety or depression, or that you will be happy. I simply want to share with you what I have discovered during my twenty years of seeking happiness and what has worked for me may not work for you.
