What Does Happiness Mean To You? #MondayBlogs

I was invited to do a talk for a motivational group recently on the theme of ‘Heaven on Earth.' I spent a long time thinking about what that meant to me.

Eventually, I decided that happiness was the one thing that gave me contentment. But sometimes we think that happiness is out of our reach – it’s something to work towards – a goal if you like.

When I’m at home, and I talk about setting goals, I can see my kid’s eyes begin to glaze over. ‘Oh god, she's off on one of her hippie trips again!’

That’s okay; they’re young. Goals aren’t as important to them. For them, happiness is already a huge part of their life; they don’t need to think about setting goals to achieve it.

I’d somehow lost that innocence. Life has been tough over the years and so I truly believed that happiness was an external element – something other people enjoyed. What I discovered was the more I concentrated on finding happiness, the more confused I became.

I opted to set myself a few goals in a bid to find this elusive happiness. I decided to shake up my life a little and see what happened.

This was the driving force behind my fifty-two challenges in twelve months, which eventually became my bestselling book, How I Changed My Life in a Year. Part of the reason behind this venture was the need to show myself that if you believe in yourself enough, you can achieve anything. But, I was also searching for some happiness in my life.

Starting on that journey changed everything. I’d set my goals, some small, some big, and I knew that I needed to be accountable for my actions, which is where this blog came in. Every challenge, every failure, every success was published and shared with the public.

My book was published in 2014, and I still receive messages on a daily basis from women who feel motivated to challenge themselves; to grasp a new opportunity with both hands and own it.

‘We all believed, so we all achieved.'

It was as my book climbed the bestseller list that I was hit with a profound understanding. Happiness filled my life on a daily basis, from the pride I saw in my children’s eyes, to the emails I received from readers, and the continuing success of my blog.

It finally slid into place for me. Happiness was never something to be obtained. By searching for it, I came to realise that it was already inside me.

We need to nourish ourselves during our time here on Earth. Life is too short to waste it searching – it’s time to live, to believe, and to achieve our wildest dreams. Heaven on Earth is attainable for each and every one of us – we just have to open our hearts to new opportunities.

If you’re still in doubt, then let me guide you to one of my popular blog posts – The Ribbon of Life. If this simple, short exercise doesn’t show you have important it is to nurture yourself and invest time in your own personal development and spirituality then I don’t know what will.

Here's an overview of my ribbon of life exercise:

• Take a piece of ribbon 100cm in length (If I look back over my family line, the female Wilson's tend to live until we're about 90 years old) - I'll cut off 10cm so my starting ribbon is 90cm. You can do the same or choose another age that represents you.
• I'm 44 years old (cut off 44 cm)
• I love my bed and over a lifetime will probably sleep for 25 years (cut off 25 cm)
• If I work until I'm 65 then that's another 10 years of my life (cut off 10 cm)
• I'll spend about 2 years cooking and 3 years eating (cut off 5 cm)
• Forgetting the number of years I've spent brushing my teeth, going on holiday, or even reading a book, I've got 6 cm left = 6 years to achieve everything I've ever dreamt about.

Realising that happiness comes from within opened my eyes to a new life. I no longer watch Friends re-runs, and I don’t waste time on negative influences, instead, I share every moment I can with my children before they grow up and begin their own adventures.

As you go about your day, I want you to think about what you believe Heaven on Earth is for you, and more importantly, what happiness means to you.