In today's article we will explore the subject of joy & fulfilment, however, before we start bear in mind that this article is a rare and entirely subjective thought journey simply aimed at aiding our Azesta community in feeling better and perpetuating positivity. 

We would also encourage you, wherever you may be, to take a 30 second break, for 10 seconds look around the room, what can you see?

• Someone doing something amusing?

• A sunbeam?

• Florals / plants?

• Something that makes you feel happy?

Now take 20 seconds, close your eyes and listen, what can you hear?

• Wind?

• Someone sneeze?

• People going about their business?

• Rustling and bustling of stuff happening?

Life can be so interesting if you take a brief moment to clear your mind and breathe...

 

Are you ready? So here we go...

Please understand that this article isn't a rock solid / concrete guide to happiness. I don't think that exists, but I'll give it my best shot to share my process for feeling better / more fulfilled and simply try to radiate some positive thoughts to anyone reading.

 

First of all what is contentment?

 

Contentment is officially and clinically defined as:

A state of satisfaction or peaceful happiness

 

Sounds simple right? This doesn't mean that you have to be sat in a giant mansion having your every need met, it also doesn't have to mean the stereotypical sat on a log in the woods experiencing the majesty of mother nature in her breath-taking glory. I have always found that contentment and happiness is an entirely subjective and individual experience that very much depends on the person who is experiencing it. Defining this for yourself has become harder and harder with the introduction and ingratiation of social media and world wide life comparisons where people viewing get discouraged by how they can't achieve that same ecstatic happiness from whichever photos that they see online.

 

FACT AND FIGURES

 

The beautiful part of this is if you can break the link to social media based FOMO you can be set FREE and define happiness for yourself and set the rules for what that means in your own head. Once you start defining your own rules for happiness you can be happy wherever and whenever you are, it will morph into something that you carry with you everyday. Much like those slightly irritating optimists that are always happy for some reason? That reason is probably because they have found what it means TO THEM to be happy and content you have the power to do the same. 

 

What happens when it isn't there?

 

I'll keep this bit short as most of us know what it means to be unhappy, however to fully understand the prospect, we have to look at the other side of the coin. To be unhappy again is a subjective experience, and it generally means that you are unhappy in your current situation and do not / can not find those things in your life that would make you feel better. The experience is within you and that means it won't leave you on it's own, it's not something that can be run away from. Please hear this on every level, I truly believe that if unhappiness has tried to set root in your life YOU ARE NOT TRAPPED WITH IT, IT IS TRAPPED IN YOUR HEAD WITH YOU. You are the master of your own domain and life, you can grab hold of that little 'unhappiness goblin' and say "NO MORE" redefine your circumstances and look for the light. 

A principal element of neuropsychology dictates that pathways in your brain act in a similar fashion to muscles in your body, if you constantly think of the bad memories / experiences, it will be easier to remember and jump back to the bad memories / experiences, while at the same time the pathways to the good experiences will fade. HOWEVER this works both ways, if you choose to refocus on the good, you can hack these pathways and reinforce positive experiences in your life. This builds on a technique that I like to call practising happiness.

 

How can you practice happiness and contentment?

 

Again, this is an entirely subjective experience, and only you can define it for yourself. 

For me, I try new thing and focus on the positive things that I can draw from that activity. For instance:

I took the time to enter a squash league in my local area. Even though I wasn't very good to start with, I had the opportunity to meet some fantastic new people, to learn about their; lives, challenges, victories and hobbies. Now I have a whole network of people that I can talk to, enjoy sports with and share my experiences with. 

I also realised that drawing all of my contentment from a dependence on other people would leave a hole in my life when I spend time alone. So after a complete coincidental introduction to 'The joy of painting' featuring the late 'Bob Ross' (I know that it sounds a little twee) I gave it a try. Now, I love to take the opportunity to go and immerse myself in nature, and make an absolute mess of a canvas sheet. My paintings are no good, but to sit in nature, to hear the birds, to hear the breeze rustling through the trees and to witness a stray cat leap like an arctic fox into a pile of leaves like a hooligan, it is an extraordinary experience. Anything can happen and I find it fantastic to be standing in nature, breathing in the atmosphere of the incredible ecosphere that surrounds me... 

 

BUT... coming back from that tangent...

 

How can you do this? You can do a few things to boost your sense of contentment, but, I have found that you may have to start with a process that can be slightly harrowing; SELF REFLECTION & ANALYSIS to do this:

 

List:

• What do you enjoy that isn't currently in your life?

• What do you not enjoy that is currently in your life? 

Now circle one thing from each list that you think would be relatively easy to introduce to your life with consistency for the former, and what would be relatively easy to let fade from your life with consistency for the latter. 

 

Try to do this from once a month to once a year. The frequency is up to you, but the consistency of your changes should be the focus of the equation. If you can consistently keep what makes you happy in your life and address what doesn't, imagine where you'll be down the road...?

 

Perspective, Analysis, Consistency

 

Again...

This article is a rare and subjective look into my own process for building my own sense of contentment. I simply thought that if I can help others in our community to feel better and enjoy the Summer then that's what I would do. I'll leave you with a simple sentence to act as a sort of cheat-sheet.

Look for the light, whatever that means to you, keep it with you in your step and in your heart.