How To Be Happy Right Now Is Easier Than You Think

I always advocate for listening to the messages from your body. They are important & they are unique to you. Sometimes they are profound. Sometimes they are simple. You might feel a clenching in your gut or you might feel excitement in your chest. However these message appear, they are rooted in the present moment & not the past. They’re connected more to what’s happening right now for you and not your past experiences. These messages are also crucial for you to acknowledge is you want to learn how to be happy right now.

Because I believe that this is so important, I spend time every day listening for messages from my own body. Recently, one message that I got was that I can’t recreate the past no matter how much I might want to do so.

Is that something that you’ve struggled with at times too?

No matter how hard I try, the past will always be the past. I’m not going to bring back that previous version of myself and when I try to recreate the past, it usually leads to unhappiness.

This particular message that I received recently was related to what my body can do now. After health issues have slowed me down over the past 5 years, I find that I can’t quite do things the same way that I could say 10 or 15 years ago. I’m not as strong or as flexible as I used to be and I miss that version of my body.

The thing is that life has happened over those 10-15 years. I’ve had injuries. I’ve had health issues. Both of those have combined to put me in a different place than I was previously. While yes I can build strength & regain flexibility again, I’ll still never be the same as I was all those years ago.

Now, some people would find that depressing. I find acceptance in this. With the awareness that I’m a different person now than I was 15 years ago, I have much more acceptance for myself now. I have compassion for current limitations and acceptance of what I can do in this moment.

I’ve learned how to be happy right now.

This acceptance is so freeing for me and it’s greatly increased my own happiness!

Instead of spending energy & thought around how to recreate a previous version of myself, I can spend my time being the best version of myself in this moment. Instead of worrying if I can hike as fast as I used to do, I can spend my time out in the woods hiking & exploring at my current pace. I might challenge myself to hike a little faster, but this challenge is based on who I am now. Not the person that I used to be.

Similarly, I’ve dealt with food intolerances in the past. Now, instead of worrying if I’ll ever eat certain foods again, I can spend my time & energy enjoying the vast variety of foods that I have available to me. I can use my inspiration to create new meals that I love to eat in this moment and not be resenting the fact that I can’t eat the way I could 10 years ago.

You can apply this way of thinking to all aspects of life.

Are you missing a previous part of your life?

That’s normal. I’m sure that you have fabulous parts of your life that you’d like to recreate. Maybe it was a vacation, life event or special time of your life. Whatever it was, a special set of circumstances combined to create that time of your life but you cannot recreate that exact set of circumstances again.

Remember, you can never step in the same river twice.

A river is always flowing and changing. As the water moves on down the river it takes debris with it or shapes the shoreline just a bit differently. The water that was in front of you a second ago is already moving away from you to be replaced by different water. Every time you step in to river, you’ll be stepping into different water.

This is what’s happening in your own life. You’re reality is constantly shifting and who you are right now will be just a bit different from who you are in 10 minutes.

Thus, you can’t recreate the specific reality that was in existence 2 minutes or 10 years ago. Work with what you have right now.

I give you permission to stop trying to do just that!

Learning how to be happy right now is up to you. Instead of trying to recreate something from your past, you can focus on what you have in your life right now. If you’d like to change something in your life, that’s okay. Just know that you’re working with a different set of circumstances than you had previously.

This is the part that I find so freeing. Instead of trying to recreate the past with my current reality, I get to create the best version of myself with what I have right now. That is so much easier to do!

I’m so grateful that this awareness showed up in my body the other day! It makes my present life so much easier. It doesn’t mean I’ve given up trying to be the best version of myself right now. Instead, it means that I’ve accepted this current version & now I can look at the choices that I have around myself right now.

This makes my present moment a place that I can enjoy instead of a place that is never quite going to measure up to my previous expectations. I’ve learned how to be happy right now and you can too!

So, stop what you’re doing. Breathe into your present moment & see if you’re trying to recreate the past or if you’re creating the best version of yourself in this current point in time.

I believe that you can be happy right now too.

And remember… it’s time to live happier & healthier!