A Happiness Technique For When Feeling Happy Is Really Hard

If we’ve learned anything from 2020, it’s that plan A isn’t always an option.

And for many of us, plans B and C have been turned upside down, too. We’re certainly learning resilience.

It can feel frustrating when we want nothing more than to experience ease and joy, but life keeps throwing curveballs filled with uncertainty or disappointment.

“Why does it have to be so hard?”

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“I just want to feel happy.”

If you’re feeling unsettled right now, try this calming meditation from our co-host, Melli O’Brien.

Change takes time. Be patient with your process.

If you’re encountering the awkward bumps that tend to emerge at the start of any change process, you might feel irritation or even a deep sadness.

In those moments, try asking yourself, “What would a happy person say or do?”

Initially, this might feel slightly uncomfortable or completely insincere. Be with that, and keep reflecting on the question. Try to imagine a time when you were happy, and then bring that energy into this moment. Or visualize a deeply happy person and then consider how they would respond, if they were faced with the situation you’re in.

Many of us have learned to focus on what’s wrong in the world around us, and while there can be value in this, overly fixating on the negative is a guaranteed path away from happiness. Because actively cultivating happiness contradicts most people’s conditioning, it will probably be quite challenging to start. That’s understandable.