Happiness: A 3-Part Journey (Part 1)
What does it really take to be happy? Is it money, success, or a picture-perfect life? Or is it something deeper, something we might have been overlooking all along?
Over the next three weeks, we’re diving into the heart of what it means to find true happiness in a 3-part series. Each article will explore one essential strategy to help you discover lasting joy—not the fleeting kind that comes and goes with external circumstances, but the real, sustainable happiness that starts from within.
Here’s what’s coming your way:
This Week : Happiness is an Inside Job
Week 2: Two Sides of the Same Coin - Embracing Both Happiness and Sadness
Week 3: Mindfulness - The Key to Finding Happiness in Everyday Moments
So, whether you’re looking for a little more joy in your life or hoping to understand happiness on a deeper level, please join us. Together, we’ll uncover the tools, truths, and strategies that will set you on the path to your happiest self.
Your journey to understanding true happiness starts this week—Read on!
Part 1: Happiness is an Inside Job
Happiness is an inside job. But what does that really mean? It starts with your inner being—the person you are and the person you’re becoming. When you look in the mirror, are you happy with what you see? Not just your reflection, but the person behind the face—the inner you.
For many of us, this can be a struggle. Maybe we see a few extra pounds or a physique we’re not happy with. Perhaps we’ve broken promises we made to ourselves—like exercising, eating better, or simply being kinder to others.
True happiness begins with the ability to live with yourself, to like yourself as you are. It means understanding that you’re a work in progress—and guess what? We all are. At the same time, you are a unique masterpiece. There’s no one else in the world exactly like you!
Did you know that every single cell in our bodies is replaced within a year? Physically, we’re entirely different people than we were two years ago. Yet many of us carry emotional baggage from years ago—old stories that keep us from being happy with ourselves.
That’s why I call it doing the “inner work.” It means being true to yourself, striving to be the best version of you when no one else is watching, and having compassion for yourself as you grow and learn. Part of this journey is aligning your thoughts, words, and actions. As someone wisely said, “When your thoughts, words, and actions are truly aligned, you are at your highest self.”
And here’s another insight: when your inner world is in harmony, it transforms your outer world. It changes how you perceive life, how you interact with people, how they feel about you, and how you feel about them. Doing the inner work changes everything.
To illustrate this point, let me share a story.
During COVID, a busy father was working from home. His 11-year-old son wanted to play outside, but the father, swamped with work and an upcoming Zoom deadline, kept putting him off. The son, frustrated, said, “Dad, you always say you want to play with me, but you never have time. Can’t you take just a few minutes to kick the ball around?”
Desperate for a distraction, the father noticed an old newspaper on the table. The front page featured a picture of North and South America showing areas of global warming. An idea struck him.
“Buddy,” he said, “I’m going to cut this picture into little pieces. Here’s some tape. When you’ve put the picture back together, I’ll come outside and play. Promise.”
The father thought this would buy him at least 30 to 45 minutes. But to his surprise, his son returned in just five minutes with the picture fully reassembled.
Shocked, the father asked, “How did you do that so fast?”
His son smiled and said, “Dad, you didn’t know this, but on the other side of the paper was a picture of a man. It was big, and he took up most of the page. Once I got the man right, the world was right.”
The lesson? When your inner world is right, your outer world aligns. When you find peace within yourself, everything else falls into place. You’ll notice your relationships improving, life feeling more balanced, and things simply flowing better.
So, here’s the takeaway: happiness doesn’t come from external achievements or possessions. It starts with you. Work on the inside, and the outside will take care of itself. The more you do the “inner work,” the more your world will shift. And that, my friend, is a key path to true happiness.