Happiness
So, what is happiness? We all have our own thoughts on what happiness and unhappiness is. Happiness is essentially made up of three components, and these may surprise you.
These are:-
enjoyment, which is effectively pleasure, and often involves some level of effort from ourselves
satisfaction, being the feeling we get when our efforts are successful often involving work or sacrifice
purpose, without which we have no direction or meaning in our lives.
Here’s the thing, even when we get the big “3” happening together to give us feelings of happiness, these feelings don’t last very long. When we are not actually feeling happy, we often identify as being unhappy, rather than accepting that this heightened state is not one that has permanence. This puts immense pressure on ourselves to keep the feeling of satisfaction, often leading to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and failure to name a few. This can also lead to envy of others who we perceive are happier than we are, with social media generally focussing on the positive, and often fanning the flames of envy.
I'm going to try to live my life
fully and in doing so, I'll
inevitably make mistakes.
When I do, I'll celebrate them
as steps on the road to success
rather than beat myself up for
failing!
DR TIM SHARP AKA DR HAPPY
@THEHAPPINESSINSTITUTE
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LET GO OF THE PICTURE OF WHAT YOU THOUGHT LIFE WOULD BE LIKE AND LEARN TO FIND JOY IN THE STORY
YOU'RE LIVING.
Unknown
Grief
And what is grief? Grief is simply loss, and to grieve is a normal and natural response. Loss is very personal, and everyone's journey is individual.
We grieve because we loved, or perhaps because we were unable to live the life we anticipated. Grief is generally linked to the loss of a loved one, but any big life change can lead to grief. This could include, but is not limited, to the dissolution of a relationship, retirement from a long and fulfilling career, from a close friend emigrating to the opposite side of the world, or perhaps from not having the family we hoped for. Often the latter is discounted or misunderstood by those around us, and we are expected to get on with it and pull ourselves together, as this type of grief is often not recognised or accepted as genuine. We are not always able to identify our feelings as grief, as our circumstances are not necessarily those that lead to obvious forms of grief. Unresolved grief can weigh us down, and additional events causing feelings of grief can accumulate, until we find ourselves in an emotional spiral from which we can find no recovery. Grief can simply be all consuming and totally exhausting. If this is where you find yourself, then I can help.
What is coaching?
Coaching is an action focused therapy, and works with individuals, groups and corporates to move forward, too move from functioning to highly functioning, to achieve goals and find equilibrium. It is a holistic therapy that embraces the mind, body and soul, on the basis that each component is inextricably linked. Coaching encourages personal growth, and is a safe space to improve clarity, self-awareness and discover your full potential.
Coaching should not to be confused with counselling; coaching does not diagnose illness or mental health. Counselling is often a precursor to coaching. It focuses on the past, and the journey that you undertook to reach where you are at present in your life. It works on unresolved feelings and emotions, with an aim to heal these.