I should have been happy

I should have been happy. 

I had a job that I liked that paid me well. I owned a lot of stuff...expensive shoes, purses, clothes, outdoor gear. I had a nice house and a good car. I went on incredible vacations to Bali, Peru, Europe…

I wanted more. So I met a gorgeous, successful man and got married. And then I had 2 amazing kids. We bought a bigger, nicer house and better cars.

I finally had everything I ever wanted. But somehow there was still something missing.

Because here’s what we do. We see something we want to accomplish and then we set a lofty goal to make it happen. Say it’s climbing a mountain. So we work to climb this mountain and we get to the summit and it feels pretty good, but we aren’t completely content. And then we look out and we see this bigger mountain in the distance, and we think oh, ok once I climb that, then I will be happy. And the cycle continues. 

We never fully arrive at our final destination of happiness. What does happiness mean, exactly?  Is it even a place?

Danielle Laporte, author or the Desire Map says, “everything we do is driven by a desire to feel a certain way. What you buy, what you eat, what you say, who you choose to hang with, the things you make, the people you give your love to, what you wear, what you listen to, what you bring into your home, what you end, begin, and dream of...all go back to the desire to feel good.”

We love this approach: instead of just living on auto-pilot, chasing that next external goal (like a new car/house/job/relationship/vacation), which is typically a short-lived win or accomplishment, you can live in a way where you are making choices that allow you to feel the way you want to feel on a daily basis, and not just on the achievement of a goal. 

So what if instead we still climb the mountain and reach the summit, but we do it in a way that allows us to feel our desired feelings along the way. Why are we climbing? How are we climbing? How will this serve us in feeling a certain way?

It’s a much more pleasurable, powerful and sustainable way to live.

So tell us...how do you want to feel today? This week? This year? Not what do you want to do, but how do you want to do? 

Graceful? Playful? Joyful? Aligned?