Are you Happy?

“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold;
the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.”
- Democritus

It is our birthright to be happy, our divine heritage. Are you happy? What does happiness mean to you? I’m sure if we took a poll we’d get hundreds of different definitions but ultimately what makes us truly happy is the feeling of love and this feeling must begin with the self, for we can not really love another until we love ourselves first.

Loving ourselves means being kind, nurturing, and forgiving but how many of us actually treat ourselves in this manner? More often than not we look to others to blame in our lives to justify what we feel is lacking. We expect other people to make us happy and when they don’t do what we want we complain, criticize or strike out at them in retaliation. Other people cannot make us happy. Yes, they can add to our happiness or sadness but, as Democritus said, “happiness dwells in the soul” and that is where the accountability for our lives begins and ends, with the self.

When we are lacking the love for our own inner being we look for reasons why we don’t feel that happiness in our soul, by attracting people and events into our lives to cause us grief, to help us discover what we most dislike about ourselves. Because in reality, they are the reflections of our own internal world. Whatever our world looks like on the outside is in direct relation to how we feel about ourselves and whenever we are experiencing discord it is an indication that we are out of balance with our essence of love.

Feelings like anger, jealousy, hatred and other negative based feelings are triggered by FEAR and the number one fear most of us are held captive by is the belief that we are not good enough. This belief, that expresses itself in many forms of anxiety from mild to severe, is developed in our childhood and shapes our lives until we recognize it and dissolve the power it has over us.

My life partner, Paul and I, were in Italy in September 2007 for the World Masters Track & Field Championship competitions. Running is Paul’s passion and for two weeks he had the opportunity to live in his passion – I’m sure he was in Heaven! I supported and cheered him on, but after a while I began to feel somewhat out of place, surrounded by approximately six thousand athletes talking about track twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Even though I exercise regularly and considered myself fairly fit I started feeling inadequate and I began to entertain thoughts of training to compete so that I could fit into Paul’s world better and participate in the conversations with a degree of knowledge. My hidden insecurities of not being good enough were coming to the surface and they began to take me away from my core essence. Little things were beginning to bother me and I looked for ways the trip was not living up to my expectations of being in the romantic country of Italy.

When we returned I noticed that I was feeling mentally and emotionally numb and had difficulty focusing on the things I wanted to do. I thought about beginning a program of doing strides to see how fast I could actually run but it only created more feelings of restlessness. My physical body was not cooperating with me – it was trying to tell me something – then l finally I snapped out of it and wondered what on earth I was thinking! Me running track??? While I support Paul’s passion I don’t really get competition, it’s just not my thing. I realized how I was not being true to myself and I allowed love to flow through my essence once again, bringing me back into balance with my spirit. I reclaimed my power and turned my attention to taking up an activity I would enjoy.

Belly dancing, anyone?

Final Thought

“The only real source of approval is found in the fountain within. If we want to love and trust ourselves at deeper levels we must fully accept who we are and follow our own path.”
- Kiernan Antares

Exploring your Emerald Heart is a journey – it is my prayer for you to explore the trails it offers to lead you to experience true happiness and become more of who you really are – divine spirit.

Contact Information
Kiernan Antares
Author, Visionary, Inspirational Speaker
Website: www.kiernanantares.com
Email: kiernan@kiernanantares.com
Blog: http://kiernanantares.blogspot.com/
Phone: 416-467-8469