5 Keys to Happiness

Greetings after 2 weeks of vacation-work-family-fun-everything travel!

Being away the past two weeks made me think a lot about happiness. It's so easy to be happy on vacation, right?! Snuggling next to Josh watching the crimson sunrise over the Great Lakes… tasting warm gooey home made fudge just as it's made… dancing my butt off at a live rap concert… no schedule, no care in the world. All. Was. GOOOOD.

Then we came back. Endless emails overwhelmed my inbox, our car air conditioner broke, a former contractor was trying to sue for unemployment, we had dentist appointments to make and bills to pay and… Smack! In an instant, our happy-bubble was burst. 🙁

I know you get it. If you're like me, you're left wondering how to feel that sense of freedom, joy, and bubbly effervescent vacation aliveness all the time??!! (Or at least most of it). At home. At work. With your family. By yourself.

How do we get happy at home?

Introducing 5 Keys to Happiness (AKA: What I Learned on my Summer Vacation)

Vacation has a lot to teach us about happiness. You control your schedule instead of your schedule controlling you. You do what you love instead of what you're “supposed” to do. You are present and engaged, noticing the beauty all around you.

We can live this way at home. Even with a family. Even with a mortgage to pay. Even in your regular life. So I got thinking about all of this free-spirited-fun-juicy-yummy goodness and how to incorporate it into everyday-regular-“real”-life, and became inspired. I realized that there are simple tools you can use right here, right now to take control of your life and empower yourself to feel a lot more like vacation every day.

So, today begins a series, 5 Keys To Happiness (AKA What I Learned on My Summer Vacation). Throughout the next 5 blogs, I'm going to send you a Happiness Key to create the happy life you desire and deserve. Right here. Right now. In your life, as is.

Pre-Lesson: Change your language. Before we begin our series, the word “vacation” means “to vacate”… to leave the place you're in. Thus, it implies that to have a wonderful life, you need to be somewhere other than “in” your life. And once you think that, your brain creates a self-fulfilling prophecy to prove it. Your brain must begin to change how it thinks about life. It's had decades of thinking that free-spirited joy is only for childhood and vacation, so it creates that. From this moment on, as you begin this series on 5 Keys to Happiness, change your language. Decide today that you can be happy here and now. Research proves that at least 40% of your happiness is totally and completely in your control. Choose to take that control now.

Awesome. We're off. See you for Happiness Key #1 – coming to your inbox soon.

With so much love,
Carin

PS – I am SOOO excited! Goddess Girls Weekend in South Beach is less than 2 months away! Join me and Taylor Strecker in the VERSACE MANSION for a soul spark, heart-fulfilling, fabulous weekend.  August 5 – 7. (Click here for info and to join us!)

PPS – Want to learn the Science of Happiness?  I will also be teaching a 6-month Positive Psychology Certification in Miami this Fall and Winter. 7 weekends over 6 months with a group of like-hearted, brilliant people who all want to make a difference in the world. You don't have to live in Florida – you can fly in every month like I am. This program is AMAZING. More info coming soon, but in the meantime, click here!

PPPS – Want more positivity? For more frequent positivity, purpose and empowerment tools, like my Facebook page and join in the conversation! I love hearing from you and talking with you!!!

PPPPS – I love hearing from you! Share how you're incorporating the tools on my blog or Facebook page so that we can learn from each other. And if you like what you see, share the tips with friends, invite them to receive my newsletter (send them this link) so that more and more of us feel the joy we deserve.