Happiness Information

The Elusive Butterfly of Happiness


Are You Chasing the Elusive Butterfly of Happiness?

For many people happiness is an elusive butterfly in the garden of life. Imagine a young child in the garden on a summer day. The child sees a beautiful butterfly flitting from flower to flower. With eyes of wonder the child wants to see it close up, touch it, and hold it in their hands. The child goes towards the flower that the butterfly is resting on, with arms out stretched, only to find as he just gets in reach, the butterfly moves to another flower. Undeterred the child follows the butterfly to the next flower, and then the next, but the butterfly always stays just out of reach.

As adults, happiness can seem just like that butterfly, always just out of reach. It becomes almost an obsession and the words "if only?" become an increasingly large part of our thoughts and vocabulary. If only I had more money I would be happy, if only I was in a great relationship I would be happy, if only I could have a different job???.and the list goes on. Even if we achieve one of our "if only" desires, the happiness we seek is still just out of our reach. The truth of the saying "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" becomes our focus and perception. If this becomes our focus, we find that dissatisfaction and unhappiness increasingly keep growing in our life and experience.

The unhappiness within us can not be completely satisfied by external events or circumstances. To find happiness in life we must first be at peace with ourselves internally. External events and circumstances can bring us happiness in the moment, but they do not have a lasting effect on our inner self. Life experience brings a mixture of good and bad circumstances to everyone. To rely on life's experiences for our source of happiness would mean living life in a constant emotional roller coaster ride.

Happiness comes from within. The inner contentment that survives the roller coaster ride of life has its roots deep within our being. The source of happiness comes from finding and embracing who we are as a person, and living a life of purpose. We need to find peace in every aspect of our life- the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. To discover acceptance, purpose and peace in all of these areas will give a sense of completion in life. If we neglect any one of these areas, we experience a sense of emptiness and feel something is missing. There is not a solid foundation for building happiness within, but we then, typically start to try to fill this incompleteness by looking for outside solutions. That is the point when we can fall into the 'elusive butterfly' syndrome, and experience such frustration.

Is happiness an elusive butterfly for you? Spend some time in quiet reflection. Are you neglecting one of the four important parts of who you are and experiencing a sense of emptiness within? The more you discover, embrace and accept your uniqueness and purpose, the more you will experience the butterfly of happiness alighting on your shoulder.

Barbara White, of Beyond Better Development, speaks and writes with a passion to empower others to live life fully. This article is extracted from her newsletter "Growing Beyond Better.

To subscribe to her newsletter, or read other articles visit http://www.livingbeyondbetter.com

For more on this topic read Barbara's E book "Discovering and Celebrating Your Uniqueness". Click here http://www.livingbeyondbetter.com/discovering-your-uniqueness.html


MORE RESOURCES:

guardian.co.uk

Twitter hacker says admin password was 'happiness'
Los Angeles Times, CA - 2 hours ago
Happiness. The hack victim, a Twitter staffer who goes by the name Crystal on the social network, used that nine-letter word as the password for her account ...
Twitter Hacker Says Admin Password Was 'Happiness' Wired News
Simple, brute-force dictionary attack was used on Twitter Neoseeker
Password guessing attack exposed in Twitter pwn Register
WebProNews - The Tech Herald
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Ten Ways To Be Happier Now
Forbes, NY - 3 hours ago
It might seem that happiness is in short supply these days. Still-slumping housing prices, bleak consumer spending, high unemployment and a recession are ...


Metro

Twitter 'happiness' hack exposed Britney
Metro, UK - 14 hours ago
... but then discovered she was a staff member called Crystal with access to all profiles and passwords. Her simple password, Happiness, was easy to crack.


24dash

Ofsted rates children's happiness
The Press Association - 9 hours ago
The data gives each local authority a score on five different measures - the emotional health of children (happiness), bullying, participation in "positive" ...
Inner London teenagers least likely to take drugs guardian.co.uk
Half of all pupils are bully victims The Sun
Region's children happiest in country, data shows Fleetwood Today
guardian.co.uk
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Bihar government jobs bringing happiness but with pain
Indian Muslims, CA - 12 hours ago
By Abdul Wahid Azad, During the last few years some positive changes took place in the Indian province of Bihar which was earlier dubbed as BIMARU state of ...


It's Never Too Late: Happiness Now!
Examiner.com - 16 hours ago
OK So sometime in December I was minding my own business and I get this email that I missed because I was very busy minding my own business but actually the ...


It's Nothing but Happiness For Kate and Len
PopSugar.com, CA - Jan 6, 2009
Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman traveled with Lily from London to LA over the weekend and then hit the streets for some grocery shopping yesterday. ...


Happiness is ...
Enid News & Eagle, OK - 20 hours ago
Ask each one their definition of happiness and you would likely get 6.7 billion different answers. Some people say being rich would make them happy, ...


Happiness in hockey
Morgan Hill Times, CA - Jan 5, 2009
At the Sharks Ice in San Jose, a hodgepodge group of men sporting full hockey pads, carrying sticks and wearing face masks emerges from the rink-side locker ...


One life to live, so choose happiness
Edmond Sun, OK - 22 hours ago
Happiness is a choice. Obviously, we can’t choose all of our circumstances. I have a friend who is battling breast cancer and is currently in the midst of ...

Happiness - Google News

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