Hello and Happy New Year. I am delighted to be starting 2017 with my new fortnightly blog for Brighton Journal.
As a Cuddle Therapist and Vital Development Dance Facilitator I have inspired many people in Brighton and Hove over the past ten years to increase their levels of health and happiness. In this blog I will share insights that I hope will motivate you to create the life you deserve.
At this time of year we are wishing our friends, family and colleagues a Happy New Year. In my thirties I studied Buddhism intensely, living in a Buddhist community and teaching mediation. A fundamental principle of Buddhism is that “everyone wishes to be free from suffering and everyone wishes to be happy” – we are just not always looking in the right places for our happiness!
So how can we create this happier, healthier, better, brighter New Year that we are wishing for ourselves and others, where can we look for happiness.
Counter-intuitively, we need to focus on the NEW, rather than the happy, to become happier because if we carry the same thoughts, the same beliefs, the same behaviour, the same patterns of relating to people and situations into the New Year we will only create the SAME level of happiness that we had in 2016. If you are wanting MORE happiness you have to contemplate thinking, behaving and relating to your life in a new, more conscious way by choosing how you want to feel and what you want to believe in every new moment.
This is possible. We are highly evolved beings who have the power change our perspective on pretty much anything and everything. Another core tenant of the Buddhist philosophy is that nothing in existence has a fixed identity, this means that everything is fluid in nature. Quantum Physics and advanced Neuro-physics are now proving this to be true; stating that we are all made of vibrating energy and not solid at all. For me, this theory provides a sense of spaciousness and possibility as suddenly there is so much more flexibility and freedom to move and easily shift our reality.
So, what if you do decide to make a change in 2017 – what is the New You that you most desire?
A new job, a new house, a new partner, better health, greater peace, more confidence, increased self-worth? Let’s make it happen through our focused attention!
You may have heard the expression “where attention goes energy flows”. Well, if we are simply waves of vibrating energy it must be true that what we focus on, through our thoughts and feelings, will come into our reality. Sounds too simple?
It is that simple, the tricky bit as that you have 50,000-70,000 thoughts per day and most of those are unconscious and possibly not supporting you on the path to pure happiness. If you want to change the momentum of these thoughts and create new beliefs about yourself and your life it does take a mindfulness, perseverance, and commitment, but it is definitely worth it.
At the beginning of December I was voted as a Happy Champion for Brighton and Hove and was included on the Action of Happiness and The Argus Happy List for 2016. As part of the process I was asked “What are the most important ingredients for a happy life?”
Here is my answer….
“The ingredients for a happy life are focusing as much as possible in the present moment, appreciating the things in your life that are good, working and/or bring you pleasure, surrounding yourself with people who uplift you and make you laugh, and taking time out to be still and quiet occasionally to recharge your batteries.”
In addition, choose two changes you would like to make in your life that you believed will make you happier (one professional and one personal) and write then down. Each morning and evening read your changes and imagine that they have already happened. Visualise yourself with the new partner, in the new house, two stone lighter and feel how that new situation makes you feel. Really enjoy how it looks, smells and feels in your mind’s eye to be in the new state and believe me gradually overtime you will draw that reality closer and closer.
I truly wish you all a Very Happy New Year – with love
Helen www.helenthatcher.com
Featured image by Roman Iakoubtchik
