WHERE IS YOUR HAPPY PLACE?
Is it in the confines of your home – that little windowsill that brings to you a slice of the world outside? Is it that special spot on your favourite beach? Perhaps, it is the book that you pick up every time you wish to steady your mind? A hot cup of tea with some onion fritters on a rainy day, maybe? Or the smell of first drops of rain on the sun-soaked ground? Strains of your favourite song on the radio, eh?
Your senses are attuned to help you create your very own happy place – consciously or otherwise. Whether you physically create that happy place or let your mind do your bidding, you will find it within you. Simply focus on happiness and the ways that will come to you.
Often, what you deem as your happiness quotient, rather your happy place, is a composition crafted from memories. A little trigger is all that is needed to open memory gates and let whiffs of that happiness engulf you. As you keep drawing from that pool and go about structuring your environment to replenish it, your happy place will become all the more apparent.
If you agree that your mind is the most powerful tool and that your happiness is dictated by your mind than by other external factors, read along and find out how little things can help you construct your happy place – physically or mentally. Experts on the subject believe that mere visualisation can make you happier; that going to your happy place is all about vividly imagining that happy factor, they argue.
So, how do you get to your happy place? Do you simply sit and imagine the situation that would alter the present stressful status quo into a happier one? Or do you physically get out and seek shelter under the canopy of your happy place?
Little steps could help you trace your way to your happy place…
Relax:
If taking a walk out in the garden helps you relax, make time for it, even if it’s for 10 minutes a day. Find simple ways to calm your mind and experience mental relaxation that is essential to savour the joys of your happy place. Even a quick coffee break and some chitchat with a friend, before you wind up for home, could lead you by your hand to your happy place.
Manage Time:
You need to make time for all the little things that are often sidelined and categorised as fun things to do on a holiday. Fun is what you make of a situation; it has very subjective connotations. But without chasing the set parameters of fun, you could create your very own idea of fun, every day, by ensuring that you give time to yourself. This calls for a change in the way you manage time. If you have a fixed time to go to work, ensure that you have time to stop working too. Stick to that time, unless there is an emergency and your presence is a must. Understand the importance of keeping your work time distanced from your personal time to revisit your happy place.
Nature:
Give nature its dues and nature will help you get on your happiness bandwagon. Stop and look at the greenness of the grass growing on the sidewalk, the earthy coloured feathers of the little sparrow flitting away, the dry leaves of spring, the wispy white clouds ushering summer… Find beauty in your surroundings, even in your home, revel in the joys of the energy it radiates. Nature is the most beautiful happy place.
Friends:
After all, is said and done, it is the memories of good times cherished with friends, from the neighbourhood, school and college that set the benchmark for your happy place. That explains the reunions and the alumni meetings to find that happy place one more time. But to truly experience that happy place, break the shackles of routines and make a call, even if it is a long-distance one, to say hello to that old friend and make a date to meet up – soon!
Get Active:
You, of course, know the importance of staying active for a healthy body and a healthy mind. A mind that is engaged in constructive activities will lead you to success. It will help you structure your time with things that are positive and personally gratifying. Simply sitting in a quiet place and visualizing your happy place is a great start to this exercise. Try writing a letter to your younger self, even if you are in your 20s, about the years that have passed, the experience you have gained and the advice that you can now share on life and all things happy.
Life is meant to be happy. Make time to create your share of happiness. Find your happy place!