Do you know how to create happiness?

A few weeks back I got to interview happiness mentor Taylor Proctor of Happiness Abound. She is a coach and speaker that helps other people create more happiness in their lives. She is honest and straight forward about her journey to create more happiness in her life and she’s passionate about helping you find that too. 

What struck me most about our conversation, was the way she asks you to look at your life and situation. What are your beliefs around happiness? Are you “shoulding” yourself out of the happiness you seek? Are you striving for perfection? Not with a critical eye, but with curiosity.

Happiness can start with something as simple as a word choice. Now this is big. Words have power and often what we say is having a bigger influence on our subconscious than we realize. That’s why this tip just🤯.

Instead of saying, “I should ____”      Try saying “I could ____“

Changing one word changes the whole feeling behind that statement. Could gives you back the power, gives you choice in the action. Take back control over your happiness. Take back responsibility.

“You’re not happy unless you are happy all the time.”

I used to believe this whole heartedly. I worried if I was thinking too many negative thoughts because thoughts become things and if I somehow let the bad stuff creep in then that’s all that’s going to show up in my life and… That’s an exhausting way to live.

Happiness is not about a specific destination. It is an ongoing journey, an adventure, an exploration. What makes you happy today may not make you happy in a month, so what’s important is to learn a method that allows for you to grow and evolve in your happiness journey.

Taylor has a formula that helps you identify what happiness looks and feels like for you. Reminder: this is not an exact science. It is meant as a guide to help you plug into and discover your happiness vision. It gives you guidance as you grow and change to allow your vision of happiness to grow change.

Her formula is: Identity + Vision + Mindset + Leadership = Happiness

Identity: get to know yourself and what works for you. Trial and error and experimenting are your friends here. What are your core values, what’s important to you? Really get to know yourself.

Vision: What do you want for your life? Always feel like the success goal posts are moving? When you know who you are and what you want, you get to define what happiness and success is in your life. Here’s where you get to start enjoying the moment (release that FOMO).

Mindset: breaking out of the comparison trap. Work to change the stories you tell about what you do or don’t do. Work on the blocks keeping you from your goals. Meditation, energy work, affirmations, journaling, there are so many ways to work on this. Message me if you are looking for guidance when it comes to shifting your mindset.

Leadership: Have a leadership mindset over your life. You are the CEO of your life, act like it. You know who you are and what you want. You are taking action to let go of any mindset beliefs that aren’t working for you. Now as the leader of your life how are you taking steps to steer your life in the direction of what will make you happy. How do you allow yourself to live in the moment and enjoy the happiness you find right now.

Now for you chronic list checkers, this might feel strange. We are used to having a set list of things we “should” check off to make us happy. Here’s the good news, you get to create a list that you love, that makes you happy!

I hope this has given you some pause for thought today. I hope you have found some comfort in the fact that you are in charge of what makes you happy. That happiness is something that is allowed to and needs to ebb and flow with the changes in your life. I hope you put yourself first and start to create a life full of the happiness you deserve.