Since turning 18 I have tried blindly to assist more unhappy friends turn their frown upside down than I care to remember. People, it seems, are rather unhappy these days. It’s like a plague, a virus.

The way we live has the virulent side effect of making us feel awful, about ourselves, about our lives, about our hopes and dreams. We have become a society that creates lofty goals and expectations while setting us up to fail.  As we create our own PR through the outlet of social media, nobody is really real anymore. We pose, we pout, we add filters and we filter information to become the best version of the craziest, zaniest, funniest, prettiest person we can be. We can’t live up to our own selves, and our friends think they can’t keep up with us.

This is not good. I am here to tell you that this unhappy way of life is entirely unnatural and that in fact, a naturally happy spirit is endemic within us all. We are all born into a state of happiness that is almost immediately blanketed and covered up by life’s events. Children, with their innocence, are much closer to their inner self, and so they radiate the joyfulness we wish we had. They have the bliss that we aim to present via our Twitter feed! Yet, we too are never so far away from our own joy. Sadly though, we tie our joy into impossible accomplishments, and decide we will only be happy when. . .

You may well think that your misery is a good catalyst for achievement. If you were never discontent then, of course you would never change your life. While there is truth in that, it remains that misery also brings you to a dark place. If you could spurn your misery and swap it for a comfortable, happy soul, irrespective of the details of your life, surely, surely, surely that would be the best swap ever?

That is the intention of this article, to help you get out of the awfully common rut of being unhappy, and to rediscover your innate happy spirit. The good news is that your happy spirit is here with you right now. She is well covered up, blanketed away under layers of life, but it is within you right now.

Try this little exercise:

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, place your hand on your heart and smile. A really big, happy, jaw cracking smile. Hold it a while. Do the process again, breathe, smile. Do you feel that? A little rush of something we may border upon calling happiness? That brief feeling is the calling card of your happy spirit. She is sat in your soul, your heart, your gut right this second, she always has been. This is your first lesson, she is very close, and she doesn’t live in your head.

As little individuals, we are part of something as magnificent as the universe, and I believe that we can interact with it on a beautiful, personal, intimate level. And if we are part of something so fabulous, something so powerful, and she responds to us, listens to us what the heck are we feeling so glum about? I know this is a lot to take in, and I’ll take it easy on you. But let me assure you of this, your happy life is not a physical, emotional or mental part of yourself. It is, in fact, a forever part of yourself, a part that links you to great wisdom and great big happy chuckles too.

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