Finding happiness in life is about having acceptance of who you are and taking enormous pride in that.  By learning about yourself and letting go of limiting beliefs, you allow yourself to find a level of peace that you may have thought previously unobtainable.  When your mind starts to quieten, an inner love and approval starts to grow.  It is not about reaching a certain place or point, for life to begin; for happiness to be attained.  There IS only this very moment and by projecting onto a future that may hold allure, you are limiting yourself, as your mind only creates what it knows.

Enlightenment therefore is not the holy grail, something for others to obtain, it is a way of being and letting go in equal measure and is possible for everyone.  A full life is not a measurement; it is not something that can be gained through comparison or coveting the life of another, no matter how sorted that person may appear.

The ego looks for recognition of its achievements, ‘if I do this or that, then I will get the adoration I feel I deserve’.  This is a false way of thinking; a false goal and is the dichotomy of success, as we often think success is the attainment of money or status.  Yet internal success is nothing more than a feeling of ease and of contentment.  It is not about looking to others, trying to replicate their actions and behaviour, in order to attain the perceived happiness you naively project onto them.  It is about looking inwards.

Do you sometimes listen to others speaking loudly about themselves and their achievements?  Yet with each telling of the same story, you suspect that this reiteration is nothing more than them convincing themselves that they are safe and validating their choices to themselves and others, perhaps to silence their own inner critic.

The routine of society, the explicate order of what we ‘think’ is required in order to fit in with others, creates nothing more than a sense of separation.  The requirement to be happy then becomes based on the expectations of others, as well as of ourselves.  Accumulation of experiences and achievements keep you on a treadmill; a never-ending cycle, where nothing is ever quite enough.

Do you find yourself looking forward to special moments and events, yet on their arrival, find your expectations are never fulfilled?  This is because you are looking outside of yourself for ways to stop the chatter of your mind.  Do you believe in others more than you believe in yourself?  The more faith you put in others, the more you will shrink and keep yourself small, scared of owning your own behaviour, believing you are not worthy.  Do you ignore your intuition, the voice of your heart and soul begging you to let go of this unfounded fear?  Your mind will suck you in if you allow it, and the negative thoughts will engulf you and became louder and louder as you give them more credence.

Doubting your ability and questioning your purpose, or waiting for someone to ‘fix’ you, is the biggest disservice you can do yourself.  Putting off life until ‘so and so’ has happened… or there is more money in the bank… or until you have more time, in order to start enjoying life, means you constantly adapt yourself and constrain yourself, looking to the future or the past rather than living and just ‘being’ in the present moment.  You start to value others’ attainments and opinions, believing that others know something you don’t.

Self-belief is not a measurement.  It is not a word or a feeling.  It is a knowing and a way of being that evaporates the world of comparison.

Your life is unique to you!  Learning to enjoy your own company is the biggest gift you can give yourself.  Loneliness comes when you project a sense of lack, or that something or someone is missing, onto your life.  That your life ‘would’ be more full, surrounded by others.  Don’t be scared of your exuberance or your desires or of meeting your own needs.  Listen to your fears and recognise that they do not serve you in any way.  You are not like everyone else, no one is.  So you don’t know how your life is going to look, well that’s okay.  So you may never understand many things in life, well that’s also okay.  Because to trust in life and trust in yourself is to embark on your own hero’s journey.  It is about being honest with yourself and listening to your intuition.  It is not about being outwardly successful. It is about finding your own inner peace and accepting yourself for all that you are, knowing that on a spiritual level you chose to be here, in this lifetime, in this body, and the surest way to achieve this is by letting go of the outcome and trusting the process.