A Simple Start to the New Year

Happy New Year to you all. Every day is a new day and yet there is a particular emphasis on the new year to start new projects and get organised. I have observed online multiple videos and tutorials on how to kick start the new year with either healthy eating and exercise, yet statistically most people will have resumed back to their old ways within a month. This has brought me to contemplate on the issue of needing to constantly push ourselves to be fit and healthy and achieve goals. Do we ever ask ourselves what we are searching for and why we are doing it?

In this modern world we are constantly bombarded by billion dollar companies telling us that we need this or that to be happy and yet could it be that the less you have, the happier you can be.

Now this doesn't mean we throw out all of our possessions. It can, however, be important to note the attachment we have to the material things in our life. Those of us that are less attached to the material and temporary things in life, tend to have more happiness. Beauty comes and goes as does youth and material possessions. Some of us have a lot and others very little. I have experienced true joy and compassion from humans living with nothing more than a wooden hut and a broom, who beamed with a smile from ear to ear. They had so little and yet were so grateful and eager to offer what they had. I have also seen people with vast amounts of money, sad and depressed.

It's not a new concept that money can't buy happiness and yet we still strive for it everyday for sense enjoyment. We are constantly trying to avoid suffering and enjoy as much as we can. We become servants to our senses and we believe we can only be happy when we have more money and more possessions. We work long hours so that we can buy products we don't need. We strive to achieve and then feel disappointed when it fails to bring the happiness we desire. The external world tells us that we need 'things' to be happy yet great thinkers have been telling us since time immemorial, that it is the quality of our internal world that creates long lasting happiness.

There are many ways to choose to live in this life and the variety is endless. Every choice we make naturally has a consequence, some desirable, some not so desirable. People who live simply are overlooked and those who have achieved money and fame are revered. It is like an upside down world. The majority are in competition with their neighbours. This constant comparison and competition can be exhausting on the body, mind and soul and yet we fail to stop and take heed of our life and choices.

The Beatles wrote the song 'All You Need is Love'

If this is the case then have we overcomplicated our life? Could happiness be so simple, we miss it entirely, by marching on to the materially beat.

These are some questions which one can contemplate on during this month. As is said, the answers come from within not without.

So instead of endeavouring for external success this year, why not embrace internal happiness. You may find that you have found what you were always looking for and give yourself an eternal gift, instead of a temporary one. This release of external achievement may open you up to unlimited possibilities, far beyond what you could have imagined.

A first step can be through being grateful for what you have in your life. This lifts the mind out of the state of 'not enough' for as said earlier, some of us have a lot and some of us very little but those who are grateful for what they have tend towards greater feelings of joy and peace.

So instead of jumping full force into January and external achievement, why not take a slow steady step and experience true fulfilment.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I trust you will find even a tiny bit of value. I'd love to chat to you about it here or over on Instagram @fairylandcottage and hear your thoughts.

May your life be filled with eternal happiness and joy.