Do you know what makes you happy?

This title was one of the headlines on a magazine I found in the Toronto airport. I love airport bookstores and have made some fun discoveries over the years. I am also a magazine addict. I love to read them, to tear them up and cut stuff out to make collaged art. This magazine, Happinez, turned out to be the first English edition of a popular Dutch magazine. The colors, photo and titles on the cover pulled me in.

Even before I started reading, the sentence “Do you know what makes you happy?” was bouncing around in my head. As I am writing this post, my husband walked by and was reading over my shoulder, scratching my back while he read. I love having my back scratched, it makes me happy along with many other things.

Why was this question sticking with me? Could be because the magazine is floating around our cottage where we are on vacation in Nova Scotia. Or it could be because I have several clients right now who can see their “happy place” out in front of them but are struggling to get there.

Focus on Happiness to Help You Move through Fear

What is stopping them? Fear! Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being seen, fear of not being valued or appreciated or understood… the list goes on. We all feel fear. But what I know is that in order to be successful, our commitment has to be bigger than our fear.

As I contemplated my own journey over the past year and what I had to shift in order to get to this place of fierce commitment to my goals, I realized that one big shift was that I am happy. My life is in a good place, a really good place. My business is growing by leaps and bounds. I tripled my income last year. I am on track to double it this year. I have a solid foundation in place and I know where I am going. Does that mean that I am no afraid? Heck no. I feel the fear every day.

Part of the journey through fear was to figure out what I want. What does make me happy? Happiness for me is deeply personal and deeply connected to family. I am designing a lifestyle business that leaves time and space for me, me and hubby, me and hubby and kids, me and community, me and work… get the picture? When I put myself first, I have time and energy left for all the things that I want to do.

Too often we define happiness as taking care of everyone else. If you don’t put yourself first, you will ultimately end up exhausted, overwhelmed and burnt out. So I ask you: what makes YOU happy?

Create a Happiness Collage

Take some time to create a collage this week of everything that makes you happy. Hang it somewhere where you can see it daily. Take some time to journal about what you included in the collage.

Above you can see a collage I made just from Happinez magazine. Not too many magazines lying around the cottage unless I bring them in 🙂 There’s something fun about having limited resources to create art!

When you focus more on what makes you happy, I guarantee that it will be easier to move through your fear and take the right actions, in spite of your fear. I believe that what we focus on grows. What are you focusing on? For the next week try focusing on what makes you happy and see what shifts for you!

I would love for you to share in the comments below about what makes you happy!