Bring these three happiness principles to your teams. They will love you for it. ?

Did you wake up happy this morning?

Do your team members seem happy?

What about your clients?

The topic of happiness keeps coming up in my Universe over here.

From my clients to my Lyft driver taking me to the airport last week.

So, my intuition says to dial it in with you, too.

Take these three happiness principles into your own life .. And share them with your community.

What I know to be true is: Happiness begins with each one of us.

You won't ever find soul happiness, that deep internal spirited happiness, through external material items. No amount of money, status symbols, promotions, cars, homes, clothes, or anything else will fill the absent void that craves joy.

You won't find happiness by numbing your emotions with booze, drugs, gambling, or any other sort of addiction.

You certainly won't find happiness while running from your feelings, emotions, anxieties, troubles, or toxic patterns in your life.

Happiness is found when we are at peace with who we are.

This whole "happiness conversation" with my Uber driver, Joseph, ignited a spark within me.

He is 53 years old. I am 49 years old.?

I wake up happy.

He wakes up happy.

As we dove into our conversation, I noticed three common threads.

1.) We are grateful for our life.

The message of gratitude is something I learned from living through dark days. When I found light on the other side, I felt this intense gratitude for everything around me. From my breath to my laughter. Just being here made me happy.

Joseph learned it when he had a heart attack 1.5 years ago and received a heart transplant. Through the process of compassion and kindness, he now considers every day a "bonus day." Every moment is a gift.?

Find gratitude in the littlest of things.. and you will begin seeing a shift in how you view the world.

2.) We are both kind to ourselves.

Be careful how you speak with yourself. So many of us are quick to judge ourselves. We create stories about our world that aren't even true! We are so hard on ourselves that we limit our capabilities, healing, and possibilities. Please, be more kind to yourself. Encourage those around you to be kind to themselves.

3.) We both realize we are human and make mistakes. We self-forgive.

To be human means we mess up.

We try new things that don’t work as intended.

We make choices that we later wished we hadn't.

We make decisions that cause redirection.

We fail, and hopefully, we learn from those failures.

The shift from being "unhappy to happy" happens when we are fiercely self-compassionate with the mistakes, choices, and decisions we make, we learn from them along the way, and choose differently the next time.?

THIS IS HOW WE LEARN AND GROW.

This is self-forgiveness.

Self-forgiveness is one of the most underutilized, and yet powerful tools to bring into your life and business. We become better leaders and mentors, and we create more powerful teams with this one simple practice.?

Use this four-step process when self-forgiving:?

1. Acknowledge your mistakes.
2. Take note of what caused the incident.
3. Ask yourself, “How will I learn from this? What will I do differently next time?”
4. Forgive yourself.?

By using this practice, we better understand who we are and how we choose to live, thus creating happier and healthier relationships in the process.

Give it a try!

I hope you found these three common threads helpful.

In my own life, I've found that every person we encounter can teach us a little something through their story.

Joseph reminded me to look at every day as a gift. I hope you grab this message and hold it tight to your own heart, too.

Want to learn more about forgiveness? Check out my book Walk Through This: Harness the Healing Power of Nature and Travel the Road to Forgiveness , or watch my TEDx talk .

Hit reply and let me know how this resonated.

Looking to dive deeper? We've got you!

Click here to schedule a 1:1 or half-day intensive with me!

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Wherever we can support or serve you, please reach out!

And if there's anyone who could use what is here, please forward this newsletter or hit the share button.?

Because I believe in you / us.

Always remember that.

xo

Sara