Happiness. That elusive butterfly of emotion we’re all trying to catch. And if we’re lucky enough to find it, we pour all our efforts into keeping it once we’ve got it, because we know how tricky it is to find.
It’s all quite exhausting.
Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate happiness and enjoy feeling it, but what I’m proposing to you here is that there are other important, worthwhile emotions that merit our attention. You can call them the unsung heroes of mental health.
The first of three I’ll highlight here is appreciation. As we dash through our days, meeting obligations, it requires a conscious effort to pause and appreciate all the good around us: the warm sun, the wagging tail of a pup, that first sip of hot coffee, the hugs we receive, the clothes we wear, the car we drive,, the food we eat. At any given moment of your life, there are countless things to appreciate. If you are weary from chasing happiness, you’ll find appreciation is much easier to touch.
Next stop is satisfaction. When was the last time the thought “I feel satisfied,” crossed your mind? Or perhaps even rarer, “I don’t need any more [whatever], I’m satisfied.” It almost seems lazy to feel satisfied. After all, we’re trained to always be striving for more: more likes, more followers, more money, more prestige, more, more, more. To feel satisfied flies in the face of our drive to always be ‘improving’ our lot in life.
To allow yourself to feel satisfied is salve for your psyche.
But satisfaction can be a rest stop on the never-ending highway to more (there’s no arriving on that trip, by the way). To pause and feel satisfied with your family, your body, your life in general is salve to your psyche. It’s an important opportunity to question the drive for more and allow yourself a moment of peace, because to feel satisfied is to feel peaceful. (And who couldn’t use a little more peace?)
The last of our unsung heroes is contentment. You can think of it as satisfaction’s big sister. Picture a little baby, all wrapped in a soft blanket, with a full belly of warm milk, held snugly in a parent’s loving arms. That. That is contentment. It’s that feeling that not one single thing has to change for me to be……happy?
If you are feeling exhausted in your pursuit of happiness, consider subbing any of these three emotions. They are easier to experience and [spoiler alert] will actually bring you much closer to the elusive happiness you seek.
This content is the original work of Diane Martinez and is not AI generated. For better or worse, this is all me, folks.
If you would like some help in creating the life you desire, schedule a free 30 minute call. I’d love to support you in your journey.
