It's About Heart

There’s an old saying, “if Christmas isn’t found in your heart, you won’t find it under the tree.”

The same is true of other things, and at other times in your life.

Happiness is not under the tree. Happiness is not a beach cabin in Hawaii. Happiness is not the perfect guy or girl.

While of course we all want some things like that in our lives, still it’s not about your surroundings; it’s not about other people. It’s about YOU.

It’s about what’s in your heart.

Because happiness is an internal thing, not an external thing. Always has been, always will be. And while it may be hard for you to accept that, once you do, and start creating your own happiness from the inside out, you’ll find that it was never missing at all -- it was just misplaced!

Start finding your happiness in your own heart by:
1. Get comfortable with who you are, what you do. Are you acting in ways that you feel are appropriate, uplifting, and a genuine expression of the person you want to be? If there are some things you don’t like about yourself, start to work on them.
2. Make yourself a priority. No, I’m certainly not advocating that you become a selfish jerk (remember item #1). But if you put all your needs and desires and wants at the bottom of your own list, so will everyone else. If you don’t treat yourself in a loving way, neither will anyone else. And the more unloving you are to yourself, the more you need it from others, and.... Are you seeing the vicious circle you can set up? Stop the cycle!
3. Make a Top 10 list for your life. What’s important to you? What makes you feel good about yourself at the end of the day?
4. Edit your life. We live in a world that tends to throw so many options at us that we get overwhelmed. If you allow in all the things that you don’t really value, there will just not be enough room for the things you *do value*. Practice saying no to things that you already know are not on your Top 10 list.
5. Create balance in your life. Too much of anything, or too little of anything will cause you to constantly feel out of sorts. Take a close look at your life and see what’s missing, or what’s too consuming. Make a few adjustments, and you’ll feel the scales swing back to a much happier place.

Your heart is your best friend. It takes you places nothing else can, places not even a beach cabin or Mr/Mrs. Right can. It’s the center of your being. Make friends with it, and you’ll find your happiness right under your own nose.