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A post shared by Elephant Journal (@elephantjournal) on Jun 14, 2019 at 5:00am PDT

If you asked me 10 years ago what the key to happiness was, I would’ve said that there isn’t one.

I would’ve said that there are happy moments, but there is no way to be happy for a majority of the time.

Wow, could I have been more wrong? No, there isn’t a way to force happiness 24-7, but there definitely is a way to spin negative situations into happy ones.

I have manifested everything that I’ve wanted and then some. I am happy and content with me and the life that I am living. I have created this great space of healing, and I want the same for all of you. I genuinely want people to be happy, because I know what rock bottom is.

I get what depression feels like, and I know how scary it is when you feel like you can’t breathe in a room full of people.

Ever since I was a kid, I had a hard time fitting in. My parents were immigrants; I never had the right clothes or belongings and it caused me to feel lack and shame.

As I got older, my father was diagnosed with cancer and then my mother. I lived in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the what-ifs. All of this causing me to feel incredibly sad and anxious all of the time. My self-image was poor because I depended on others to feed my happiness instead of me doing that for myself.

All of the stuff that you are living through now is not happening to you, it’s happening because this is the life that you are creating. I know that is a hard concept to grasp. Like, how can you possibly be causing yourself physical pain or mental anguish—but the reality is, you are the only one that is causing these things. The outside world is influencing your inner peace.

Physical pain comes from mental anguish. It may not even be something that you are living through now, but something you have stored within you from childhood traumas or possibly even a past life karma. (Have I gone too woo-woo for you?)

I have a gift of turning any negative into a positive and spinning it off with gratitude. I wasn’t always like this, though. I used to be the jealous type. I used to feel sorry for myself. I used to get myself mixed up in drama.

Sound familiar?

The thing that we have to realize is every moment that we are breathing is a gift. That every second we live is a chance for change. We don’t realize that even if our life is so bad, we are still living rich, abundant lives. How so?

Well the fact that you are reading this means you have had some kind of education. You have a Wi-Fi connection and a device to use the internet. You are clothed and most likely you slept in a bed last night. Do you know how rich and abundant you are? Do you know that there are children running around that will never know what a new pair of shoes will feel like? There are people sleeping on the streets and park benches, there are people who will never have access to the internet. You were not born into that poverty. You were given a chance to create massive abundance in the life you were born into.

It was this thinking that helped me shift my existence. Less than 10 years ago, I was 255 pounds, a single mom, living on food stamps. I didn’t know any better than to complain about my life. I thought I had it so bad until I started to realize how the rest of the world was living.

I realized that if I changed my thinking and started appreciating everything, life would be different. And so I did. I also realized I could get whatever I wanted if I believed in myself, and if I spoke to myself in a kind, loving way.

The key is to retrain your brain and your understanding of appreciation. Some of my favorite affirmations are:

I am happy.
I am fulfilled.
I am loved.

People make mistakes. Every day isn’t going to be perfect. You need to understand that. But you also need to realize that you are loved, and you need to love and forgive yourself. Happiness starts with loving yourself first. Throwing in some mirror work, as taught by my mentor, Louise Hay, is the first step!

I used to hate who I was. The mirror was not my best friend. I learned to appreciate what I have and who I was, and guess what? I am a much happier person now. I healed parts of me that I didn’t know needed to be healed, and I still continue to do so. We are a constant work in progress, that is why we are alive—to learn and make amends for what we’ve done wrong, until we are so satisfied with ourselves that happiness oozes out of us.

Happiness doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye. It’s not something that we can force. It’s not something that we can make up. It’s something that we have to work toward, put forth an effort into, and create for ourselves.

Happiness is created within, starting with affirmations, self-love, mirror work, and an overall mindset shift.

The key to happiness is loving yourself first. In order to be in love, that love starts deep within.

The key to happiness is knowing that it’s okay to not be happy all of the time, but shifting the energy so that you live in non-happiness for only a moment. The key to happiness is whatever makes the most sense for you! Not for anyone else.

So, what do you say? Are you ready to be the happiest person you know? It’s possible. I know it’s true, and I am excited for you to know it too.

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Read my free ebook, The 9 Secrets to Living your Best Life here.

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