Learn to Be Happy
I’ve taught myself to be Happy and get what I want and now I want to help others learn to do the same. I was on antidepressants for over 26 years, and I’ve been off them for over seven years now. My self-help journey started 29 years ago, when I read my You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay and I’ve been obsessed with self-help, personal development, spirituality, and the law of attraction ever since.
As I mentioned in my previous post, feeling the pain is a great way to deal with difficult emotions, but what can you do when feeling the pain doesn’t work?
I still experience periods of depression. Usually, they pass quickly, but occasionally they linger.
Sometimes the emotions were so painful I had even considered suicide. But the truth is, I didn’t want to die, I just wanted the pain to stop. During one period of depression, I had an “aha” moment when I realised I had fallen into the trap of not just feeling the pain but dwelling on it. I had become stuck in a pattern of thinking and talking about being depressed. I had to focus on what I wanted instead of focusing on what I didn’t want. I had to change my story.
My regular Happiness practices such as Buddhist chanting, gratitude, meditation, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) – which releases blocked energy by tapping on acupressure points and is also called tapping – and other techniques can all be useful to avoid getting sucked into a vortex of negativity. Remember though, it’s vital to allow ourselves to feel the pain before we use other Happiness techniques. It can be a tricky balancing act.
In her video “What to Do If You Feel Hopeless,” Teal Swan says, “Whatever you do, don’t try to think positive thoughts. Don’t write a single affirmation. Anything you try hard to do to get out of the feeling of hopelessness will ensnare you deeper.”
Welcome to the self-care challenge. Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to do something for yourself every day for the next five days. Take part in our challenge and win a self-care package. We’re giving away a prize every month.
We all experience what we perceive to be negative emotions and it can be tempting to repress such feelings. I believe it’s important to embrace your emotions, so you can process them and move through them. Continue reading “Embrace your Emotions”
On Tuesday evening I had the privilege of being interviewed on Radio Suffolk’s Tuesday Night Takeover show about mental health with Jon Wright and Suffolk User Forum. I spoke of how my spiritual and Buddhist practices have helped me to overcome depression. Katie Mottram from Emerging Proud and author of Mend the Gap talked about the link between spirituality and mental health. Listen now. You can hear Katie at about 1 hour and 17 minutes and I’m on after that at about 1 hour and 40 minutes, along with Linda talking about Mindfulness.