In the present moment, you may not be experiencing happiness, but you must have hope that tomorrow you will. It is this hope that will carry you through the darkest of times and take you into the new day of happiness.
But hope alone is not enough. Hope must be coupled with visualization, prayer, and action for happiness to be the experience in which you exist.
In my workshops, I often use guided meditations as a means to tap into our inner world, and there will always be someone who tells me they have no imagination. “That’s okay,” I always say. “Imagine what it would be like if you could imagine.” So, if you are one of those people who claim they have no imagination and cannot visualize, I say to you, “Imagine what it would be like if you could imagine and do the best you can. You will be surprised how powerful you are even when you think you are not doing it right.
It never hurts to try, right? So, give this process your best. For two minutes, you’re going to visualize yourself happy. You can find two minutes for yourself. If within that two minutes you are able to reach a genuine emotional connection with yourself, even if only for a few seconds, you will be greatly successful.
Here’s how—Sit in a comfortable position, in a place without interruption. When you visualize, engage all your senses to the extent of your abilities. See yourself in your imagination. See yourself jumping up and down with joy. See yourself smiling. See yourself participating in activities that make you happy. See yourself surrounded with friends, but do not make your happiness contingent upon another person’s actions or non-actions.
Your visualizations are powerful, and you must respect the paths of all others. You are not here to control another person. By trying to control another in your visualizations, you add to your unhappiness. You are here to make yourself happy, and by doing so add happiness to the world. Your happiness comes not from trying to manipulate another, but through the realization of how your happiness adds to the happiness of all.
Let your visualization be a prayer. This is not a prayer to beseech a higher power to give you what you want, but a prayer of deep and abiding gratitude for that which you ask for—happiness, a prayer that fills your heart with the emotion of gratitude for your happiness and infuses your every cell with joy and delight.
Happiness comes to those who ask for it, visualize it, give gratitude for it, and take the steps to fulfill that which is asked for.
What have you asked for that will give you happiness? More friends? Then first be a friend. You cannot expect friends to come to you inside your home without you first opening the door. Travel? Then plan a trip. Time alone? Then spend a day in silence.
Your life is full of signs that signal the action you need to take to fulfill the happiness you seek. Open your eyes and follow the whispers of your heart and the happiness you visualize will manifest.