Is there anything more promising than a day full of sunshine, mirth and laughter? Yes…It’s absolutely thrilling. It’s a great feeling to watch the sunshine break through the clouds on a sunny day. Haven’t those sun-soaked vacations resulted in lots of photos? If there’s a sunset won’t you love to own a frame of your family basking in the rays? Frame it or set it as your desktop background, it gives you hopes of happy promising days ahead.

This exultation nonetheless is usually short lived unless you have the ability to top up and fortify this beatitude. Clearly we could all use a little more light in our lives.

Has it ever crossed your mind that our ability to wake up every morning to a new day – one with new reckonings to teach and transform us – is the gift of life and is hard to come by? Being grateful to a thriving day is even harder.

Over the time I have realized that this gratefulness does not let go of my happiness for the value of hard work and persistence. I need not look away from the strife around me just because I prefer optimism. I also need not be grateful to everything. In fact gratefulness suggests that everything in life warrants our greatest presence. And this is precisely what constructs our perspective and a sense of possibility.

So, the big picture here is – that sun shine is ideal and may be all right to make you feel comfortable, but between busy schedules and cloud covered winter days you need more than the sun to surround yourself with mirth and brighten up your life.

All You’d Ever Wanted In Life Is To Shine Like The Sun!

Tired of sitting round your computer or huddled in the library absolutely muted and dulled staring blankly at the grim weather outside? Why not turn your space into a happier one? Of course you’re tired of putting up photos, drawings or whatever else you thought was needed to keep you smiling. Thinking of good times with friends and family is absolutely lame and would do hardly perk you up.

A positive working environment is the real difference-maker, especially when you can’t see the sun in a dreary gray day. You feel listless and completely blah; no energy for anything.

It’s not been any different for me either. When my days in the corporate world wrapped up and the din of everyday grind subsided, the harshness of life returned with a thud. Memories of a first-rate life at work were washed away in a tsunami of questions as the future stared back bleakly. I felt unsettled and aimless. The thought of enduring rocky years ahead that would spin around endless worries was simply overwhelming. All I wanted was a laid back life, little to care about and all the leisure time in the World to do whatever pleased me – no strings attached.

Was this too much to ask for?

Some part of me must have recognized that my idea of happiness was in any case unsustainable as I couldn’t forthwith drag myself into proving naysayers wrong. There weren’t too many brighter days and nights that I could simply enshrine as the most pleasant of my life. But they no less did solidify my opinion about ‘What happiness is’. To me ‘ Happiness resembled an uncomplicated euphoria that could be prolonged only by constant reinforcement’. Another day, another challenge, another adventure, another win!

If any idea that would cook up some sparkle of happiness for me, I guess this was it.

Instead, it made me anxious. When I wasn’t fretting from self doubt, I felt adrift and valley low. Why even stress was making my empathy go limp, my cholesterol to skyrocket and my waistline to inch away unashamedly! Back of my mind something was nagging. Have I taken the wrong turn? Is it because I’ve landed in a wrong life that I can’t stop living my fears? Should I simply step back and let life happen?

It was all slowly curdling into something oppressive and ugly. All I would think about was getting out.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Digging a little deeper I discovered that happiness is not drawn out of my fickle emotions or fleeting moments of pleasure. Rather it’s founded on ‘life evaluations’ that reflect the larger perspective of my existence. From feeling free to making life choices and having someone to count on, I guess I finally found my way to “Harvey moments”.

Years later, today I realize my days weren’t spent for nothing after all. Reaching out to a happy life wasn’t so elusive after all!

So do yourself a favor …and,

Wake up Each Day To What It Is

No matter what you are interested in or whatever excites you, make sure you watch over for more of these things even if it’s a bigger effort. By organizing your interests you’ll have plenty to look ahead even if something weighs you down.

I’d awaken to each new dawn expectantly but was always unsure of the unknown in the day ahead. A heaviness would then descend and make rising into the day even more difficult. Each day asked me to wrestle and reckon …but it was also the one unpromised gift that taught and transformed me bit by bit.

I even tried keeping a calendar of what I was looking forward to so I can see things coming. It helped me pass off the worst of the days without noticing -more likely in sleep. And when my eyes fill with wonder and my heart with joy, I could not betray my gratitude — I would nourish my capacity to attend the disquiet around me.

Small Victories Do Matter

“Panamanians tend to think of happiness in a more goal-oriented framework” says Allan Sellers of the Rotary Club Panama City. To me it sounds like a possibility given the fact that these people were inclined more to enjoy specific immediate objectives. I would say this was a sign of something larger; perhaps a general sense of inner peace!

Still it felt very personal to me. I was overwhelmed. For years, I had believed that “to-do” lists were a big waste of time but having learned otherwise I found the act of crossing off tasks immensely satisfying. It was a proof of progress. I was finally allowing myself a chance to celebrate easy successes and small wins. Happiness then came to me in many small insignificant ways. When added together a serene sense of satisfaction and well being would let me fit in my day completely.

One day, I sat down and listed things that made me proud and full of myself; everything from self indulgence to heartening and profoundly affecting. Not a bad way to spend an hour- I guess! In the days since I have frequently pulled out that list and have made additions to it. Looking it over regularly eases me into peace and happiness.  Every time, it feels good.

Today I’m attentive to usual chores but don’t overlook the emotional side of it- my family, friends and most importantly myself. I’ve learned to channel Sellers by “checking in” on myself at odd times. ”Am I being as kind to myself as I am to the people around me? Why am I feeling so empathetic?”

Not every day though feels as bright. But I guess…that’s okay. Life is full of moments when the clouds roll in and it becomes hard to see the light.

It’s just on those days, I need to be my own sunshine!