Of all the guilts we carry, the guilt of happiness is without doubt the most self destructive.
It has strong links with the misconception that those around us carry with them the responsibility for our own, individual happiness. And then there is the concern that we have no right to be happy when there is so much misery around us.
The reality is that happiness comes from within. We are as happy as we allow ourselves to be.
Happiness embraces joy, exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, enjoyment and satisfaction. It’s different things to different people but it’s always generated by an individual’s reactions to the space they occupy.
Life is all about what we do with what we have and what we experience. We choose happy.
It’s up to us all to draw inspiration from the happiness exuded by other people. We learn from what we see being demonstrated. But our happiness is very much our own. The well we draw from is internal not external.
When we feel guilty about our own happiness we can suppress it. We can sacrifice our heart by overworking our head. We can think ourselves into another state of feeling.
Happiness is a resource we can use to battle anxiety. It’s a tool to keep our sanity in check.
It’s worth remembering that happy is as happy does.
Gary Bentley Counselling 