Happiness is a state of consciousness and it is so when you start being physically and mentally present in your own life and own world around you. If your thoughts are taking place in the future or in the past then they are irrelevant. It is essential to not only practice both self-reflection and presence but to separate the two from one another. While what’s weighing on your conscious is important to address, it is equally important to be in the present and in the now and feeling what is happening at a given moment. It is important to be in touch with your soul, and to ask yourself “is this making my soul happy?” Creating your own happiness is understanding that there is a time for self-reflection and a time for being present. It is crucial to understand and remember that happiness is only what you’re experiencing in your own head; happiness is not other people or places because happiness is in you.
Be happy and present for you; do it in the name of self-care, for your own wellbeing, for your own mental health; do it for your own future self’s nostalgia. Be able to reflect back to your younger self, your years in college, and remember all the times you were there in the moment, carefree and happy. Fulfill your responsibilities while also making the memories that will last forever. Start disconnecting, logging off, and staying away from screens more. Stop measuring your day in terms of your productivity and start measuring your day and valuing yourself in terms of your presence.
Your worth is not your resume. Your worth is your own understanding of yourself, your values, and the life you live. Whether it is spending time with yourself, with your friends, roommates, partner, time with nature, or even time with family, it is essential to dismiss and put aside your responsibilities for a little while. Stop being a victim to the pressures of productivity culture. Start being present by reaching inwards and tuning out what is unnecessary and mentally detach yourself from all pressures in order to fully embrace each moment. Remember to be mindful of if you’re being present because presence is happiness and happiness is a state of consciousness.
Let life take you wherever you go and embrace it. Set your intentions, know your values, create happiness in your life and establish your goals for yourself. Remember all reflection on the outside is a reflection of what is on the inside. Make up your own persona and stop living in other people’s perception of you. Stop falling into other people’s definition of you because you don’t understand your own. Know yourself and don’t attribute things to your identity that you know aren’t true. Don’t trap yourself in other people’s perception of you. Look inward and ask yourself if people in your own life are attributing things to your own identity that you are understanding as truthful, or is it your own fear controlling it for and causing unease?
Stop thinking the worst and stop trapping yourself in your head in your thoughts. Stop always assuming and start having realizations about yourself. Over-analyzing is your subconscious trying to guard you, but it is not benefiting your wellbeing at all. Access who and what you’re giving your attention and energy to and decide if that is adding to you as a person. The biggest causes of suffering are attachment and desire. This can be attachment and desire to emotions, to people, to identities, and to outcomes. When we attach, we make resistance, and we make something that is not organically us into us. In order to grow, we need to let go. When we forgive, we heal and when we grow, we glow. We need to glow for ourselves, for our soul, and for our presence in this world, and we must do so with happiness as our state of consciousness.