First tip: Stop seeking  happiness. The pursuit of happiness is a selling device.  Buy into it and waste time, money, and effort. Pursue contentment instead

One  problem in wanting to be eternally happy, is that you need unhappiness to measure your happiness.

The second problem is what the experts call habituation. You can get used to anything and then it becomes boring. We crave contrast and difference, but within a bearable range.

A personal story. I a young child during the food rationing days of World War II.  We ate well, but somethings were in very short supply – chocolate bars were a very special treat and I remember my mother breaking off one square and telling me to hold it in my mouth and let it melt so the goodness would last.  Loved those little squares.

When chocolate became more common, I got less pleasure, it became routine. In time chocolate became a no-no because of weight gain, and I reverted to savoring one square at a time.

This Emotional Fitness Post was inspired by this WordPress Daily Prompt: Happily Ever After – “And they lived happily ever after.” Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?

I am content, not happy. I know anger, joy, despair, desire, love, hate, fear, shame, pride and a hundred variations of these emotions. Mostly I control their influence on my life by following my own advice and that is basically summed up in the EFTI Poster Coach above.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO

Remember sharing is caring and the easiest way to practice kindness is to share this post if you found it helpful.  Share it even if it doesn’t speak to you, it will speak to some. Didn’t like it?  Comment and tell me why and how to improve.

Katherine

LINKS OF INTEREST

These links are for those not familiar with Emotional Intelligence or the idea of Emotional Fitness.

• Emotional Intelligence  (en.wikipedia.org)
• The five components of emotional Intelligence  (www.sonoma.edu)
• An Emotional Fitness Program for Parents (amazon.com)
• Easy Emotional Fitness Exercises.