International Happiness Day can put an immense amount of pressure on ‘being happy’ which can lead to us feeling far from it. We decided to ask life coach, Jacqueline Hurst, what we should do to find happiness within ourselves.
When you treat yourself with love your world opens up. James Duigan reminds us to ‘be kind to yourself’. So, here are my top 4 tips to help you find happiness within yourself (which is far more important than finding it through other people, your career or your love life)!
1. Treat yourself the way you treat the people you love
When you feed your kids you sit them down at a table to eat their meal. Are you doing the same for you? When your partner wants that special handbag or manbag (!) but won’t buy it for themselves and you go and do that for them, are you spoiling yourself in the same way? When it’s time for your baby to go to sleep, you turn the lights down and mak their room calming, you wouldn’t put them to bed in front of a ipad or a television – are you doing the same for yourself? The point here is that when you love others you treat them well. Start to treat yourself well. In the words of L’oreal ‘you are worth it’.
2. Do the things you love
Partaking in activities that nourish your soul is very important when it comes to self love. Whether it’s an early night, a great movie, a hot bath, lovely candles or a good book then you owe it to yourself to incorporate these things into your life. Doing the things you love breeds happiness. It’s a conscious way of telling yourself that you are taking care of yourself. Doing the things you really love to do is you being kind to you. Schedule it, organize it and do it. You will thank yourself for it – trust me.
3. Stop judging yourself
Speaking to yourself in a negative way is simply mean. We are all learning and growing, and no one gets it right all the time, neither do they have a perfect life. When you give up on beating yourself up that’s when the real love comes in. You wouldn’t speak to someone you love how you speak to yourself so it’s time to lock that stuff down and change your tune. Think of a baby learning to walk. It falls down a lot and it simply gets back up again, smiling, and gives it another go. It doesn’t berate itself. The tip here is this – when you judge you miss the lesson.
4. Say no
Saying no does not make you unlikable or mean. It doesn’t make you a bad person; it makes you clever. If you really want to love you, you will take care of you and not people please. Loving yourself means respecting yourself and that means you are your priority. You don’t ever have to do anything, it’s always a choice. And in that respect you can choose to say no. Give yourself some self respect, time and some love back by getting on the no-bus. You will be amazed at how things change, how much more time you have and how great your ‘self’ will feel when you start to put you first.
You can read the full article here
You can read the full article here