The “I’ll be happy when…” Myth

I suspect the most-likely answer to this for most of us right now would be “when this pandemic is over”. Seems obvious, and who could blame us?

This phrase is so seductive and so oft used that we don’t even realize the damage it does to our happiness right now.

There are two problems with this statement:

The first one should be obvious. If we tie our happiness to some mystical event in our future, we put off happiness now. We fail to notice all the beautiful little happy blessings that are occurring in our life right now because we have our sights set on the future. We deny happiness until…

The second one is a little less obvious. Our focus is on some external event, by that I mean that something outside of us is dictating our happiness. When ‘that’ happens, then I’ll be happy.

Happiness is an internal job; being happy no matter what the external circumstances are. Marci Shimoff calls this an “inner state of peace and well-being”.

John Barrymore says: “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”

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Want some of that? Click here to download a happiness questionnaire that’ll pinpoint exactly where you are on this continuum. With that awareness, move yourself up a level.

And stay tuned for a course on happiness I’ll be offering soon.