.

  • Written by Eric North aka “The Happiness Warrior”


Most of the time we don’t even register the thought, but so many of us spend our lives sabotaging our happiness with negative emotions and unnecessary guilt or shame. For whatever reason, we don’t think we deserve to be happy. We’re not even sure if we’re allowed to be happy and when it touches us we shrink back and question its reality. It’s the curse that so many of us fall under. This self-made prison that keeps us from becoming our greatest creation and keeps us from being fulfilled and able to keep our long-forgotten hopes and promises.

The greatest gift to growing older is the wisdom we accumulate and the ability to look back at our lives with clarity and see the world as it really is. It’s this practice of self-awareness that helps us to see our old traps and harmful cycles of doubts and self-created fears. It can be painful and make us feel regret. but it can also a great revelation when we see how hard we’ve been on ourselves without any reason.

If we can see the value in our mistakes we can start living our lives with hope and promise. We can stop living in a state of fear and regret. We can find greater happiness in our purpose and momentum.

When we learn to see how we’ve sabotaged our lives in the past, we can create the lives we’ve always dreamed about. We can live with intention and knowing that we can do anything. It’s when we finally knew the truth that we’ve suppressed for so long. The only thing stopping or holding us back is ourselves. Old fears are soon forgotten.

As The Happiness Warrior, I believe that many of us have a deeper purpose for our lives than we’ve been led to believe. We’ve been taught to conform, follow the expectations of others, and to be content with what we’re given. We are shamed when we raise our voices. We’ve been taught to view happiness as an aspiration that we feel we don’t deserve.

The world can be a cruel place for the authentic and truthful. Too often our voices remain unheard. It’s time to shift and speak our voice while considering the voices of others. Let’s change how we see ourselves and move forward with an attitude of acceptance, gratitude, and resilience. Let’s become our own warriors and realize our dreams and inspirations.

THE VALIDATION TRAP

Some live for meaningless, and superficial validation, and others seek to be quiet and stay in the shadows. This is reality that we’re told to accept. It is the antithesis of happiness and the cause of much emotional distress and pain.  Why do we sabotage ourselves when we have so much potential?

– We believe the lies because we aren’t self-aware.

–  We ignore truth and suppress the guiding force of our inner voice.

– We don’t see the truth despite the facts.

–   We forget that all knowledge comes from within and suppress our inner voice.

– We react when we know better much to our dismay.

Life can exceed our expectations when we learn to identify the signs and emotional cues that lead to our self-sabotage.

Fear can be the greatest killer of dreams unless we understand our truths and realize that vulnerability is our greatest superpower.

Go forth in life with a light heart knowing that anything can happen and be proud of your ability to find resilience and embrace change. The world is always moving, and we can only make it better when we’re moving with it.

WHAT WE IGNORE

All too often in life, many of us ignore the self-guiding wisdom of our intuition and succumb to irrational fears and self-created negative emotions. This halts us from reaching our full potential and developing our innate gifts and powers. This might give us an illusion of safety, but rarely the satisfaction and comfort that we believe we’re seeking. It’s a spiral which we can conquer when we are honest with ourselves and learn the freedom that comes from our old habits and self-created emotions.

When we change the way we see ourselves and live in our truth anything is possible. Happiness is much more abundant when we:

-          Stop holding on to our resentments.

-          Stop comparing ourselves to others.

-          Stop or never use the word victim to describe yourself. Victimhood is a self-created fallacy. We can be targeted but it’s not our choice.

-          Stop living in the past, the present is all that matters.

-          Stop living in fear for things that might not ever happen.

-          Stop surrounding ourselves with people who make us unhappy. Letting them go can be the best thing we’ve ever done. Always making others happy is the sure way to a happier, more connected life for ourselves.

Start surrounding yourself with people who lift you up and make you happy. Most self-sabotage starts when we continually encounter and do nothing about people who aren’t good for us.

Our spirit rises when we set boundaries, abide by truthfulness, and practice self-awareness. This helps us find peace in acceptance of the past and helps us create understanding. Only the truth can raise our vibration and fuel our positive energy. All problems become smaller when we are honest without ourselves and ignore our damaging ego.

MAKE IT REAL

There’s no time like the present to stop self-sabotage. It’s the cause of so much unhappiness and unnecessary suffering and one which we are fully in control of. Most of the damage experienced in life is self-created and undeserved. When we change the narrative to one of confidence and self-empowerment we can become the best versions of ourselves.

-- Understand that we do deserve to live the life of our dreams.

-- Realize that avoiding adventure and new situations is killing your reality.

-- Stop comparing ourselves with others. Especially those that we don’t even respect or admire in the first place.

-- Start doing creative things, this goes best when we make our own rules without fear of shame or judgment. Do we really know what anyone else is thinking?

-- Show up and focus on making an impact. We are greater when our actions have value and intention.

-- Be kind always and be grateful that empathy is learned.

SETBACKS ARE TEMPORARY

Fear can be processed and understood. It can be reshaped to create the reality that we wish for.

Look back in time when needed and think back on fears that never materialized. How small and insignificant do they seem now? 

Developing core values is essential and maintaining a “ready for anything” outlook is powerful.

HOW WE CAN TRIUMPH

As humans we have the inherent powers of empathy, resilience, intention, and courage. As The Happiness Warrior, I believe that these are superpowers which all humans possess but many have never tapped or reached their full potential.

Through our trials we develop greater strength of will, wisdom, and life-mastery. These are the skills and mindsets that make us purposeful and worth living. We can always be better when we are strong in our knowledge of ourselves.

With a warrior-mindset there’s no other choice than to be strong and resilient.

1. Identify recurring thoughts that make us uneasy or unhappy. Be specific

2. Instead of being defensive, think about what might have gone wrong on your part and take personal responsibility.

3. Own both the problem and the solution.

4. Let any feelings that arise pass through you, how does it feel on the other side?

5. Realize that anger is a selfish and harmful self-created emotion. If anger arises, keep it to a short burst and get it out of your system. Preferably alone in a private place.

--Stay present, focus on what’s good now and not on the past

TAP INTO INTUITION AND BE HAPPIER

Life has a way of providing us with most of the answers even if we don’t see them clearly at first. When we learn to trust and heed our intuitive thoughts we learn the secrets that we’ve always missed much to our misfortune. When we forget to trust ourselves first, our lives have less fulfillment and meaning. Listening to our intuition helps us make better choices and better pathways for our lives. It’s the gateway to finding our identity and living in truth. It’s the authenticity that helps us rise and become happier and more satisfied with who we are. No apologies and no self or societal shame allowed.

Our opinion of ourselves shapes our reality. When we learn to show up for our lives the transformation of our spirit continues, and our vibration rises. Happiness becomes a normal state, and we are ready for anything.

Life gives us many lessons and opportunities and how we choose to make the most of them and realize our potential is the story of our lives. Developing self-awareness is a lifelong task and the more clearly we see ourselves the happier we can be with our lives.

I believe that we can all rise to our potential when we can be honest with ourselves about who we are. Our authentic being resides in all of us, it’s time for all of us to let it out. All humans have the power to be their best. Love yourself enough to let it happen. A magical life is what it’s all about.

Eric North The Happiness Warrior

Eight unbeatable happiness habits

As The Happiness Warrior, the core of my mission and purpose is to help us lift themselves out of acts of self-induced suffering, negative emotions, and self-sabotage. To forgive and forget all of the terrible things that have happened in the past ...

Happiness is the answer to our misery

As the Happiness Warrior, I’ve always believed that every human deserves to be happy and enjoy life’s opportunities and choices.  A firm belief every human has meaning and purpose. It’s a life-affirming belief system that enables me to have empathy a...

13 habits for greater happiness and success

As The Happiness Warrior, I’ve always believed that life is best when viewed as a game that always must be played to win. A mindset where we’re fully engaged with our consciousness and intention in a timeline of our own creation. How we choose to pla...

How to be someone we're proud of

Most of us go through our lives doing what’s expected of us. Grinding away through our lives without thinking much about our how we came to be in our present circumstances. A constant and never-ending cycle of seeking approval and meeting the expecta...

How to be noticed

We all know the feeling that comes when we’re unnoticed, feel disconnected, and fearful. It might be temporary and completely random in nature, but it can make us feel small and so alone. Life is often unfair, and many are easily forgotten or neglect...

Ten steps to a more cheerful life

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness—Michel De Montaigne As The Happiness Warrior, I’ve always felt the joy of connection that comes when meeting others of similar attitude and mindset. The happy beings who walk among us who’re always r...

10 sure ways to feel good right now

As The Happiness Warrior, I feel it’s important to talk about the good and the bad in words and thoughts that we can all relate to and understand. It’s my firm belief that happiness is more than just a feeling but a means of change and reunificatio...

5 empowering ways to make our lives worth fighting for

All humans that have learned the secrets to living a fulfilling and happier life have one thing in common that provides more happiness and personal freedom. The ability to look forward to each day with gratitude and acceptance. An all-knowing fee...

Finding our way to happiness

When I was young, I knew that my interests and dreams were different than the other kids and I often felt disconnected and an outlier. I was constantly seeking knowledge and always hungry to learn anything that I could find of interest. I learned to ...

Victim no more

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself-Harvey Fierstein We’ve all been a casualty at times in our lives from someone who intentionally inflicted harm and cr...

The five traits of wisdom

Of the many qualities and traits of humanity, wisdom is the keeper of us all. It’s found in our values, thoughts, and actions. The undeniable need to pass along our hard-earned experiences and help others along through their journey. The ability to...

Ten secrets to greater happiness and mental strength

I have a dream that one day we will all become warriors for our lives.  That we’ll live in the happiness that comes when we understand the feelings of value and purpose that arise when we begin to reveal our innate self-directed powers and motivati...

The only five things that really matter

As The Happiness Warrior, I like to view life as a game that we play throughout the scope of our existence. It’s a complicated game and there are many twists and turns. Sometimes we will get what we want and other times we will be greatly disappoin...

Authentically fearless

Growing up in the South in the nineteen-seventies was a time and place in which I always felt out of place and alone. Without anyone I could trust myself to be honest and authentic with.  I knew my truth but kept it deeply hidden away for its inevi...

Practicing joyful perfectionism

I’ve always thought that one of the most magnificent things about being human is our ability to discover things which we are passionate about and learn to do them well. A joyful mindset in which we are able to hone our ability to think freely, di...

The Happiness Warrior's laws for happiness

For so many of us happiness might feel like something we’re always seeking that seems just out of reach. We all want more happiness, but most of us forget to realize that it’s actually truth and vulnerability that we are truly seeking. A happiness ...

Happiness is always there to remind us

It’s often said that happiness is a choice and only a feeling that’s soon forgotten. As The Happiness Warrior, I strongly disagree and believe we deserve more. Happiness is best viewed as a lifestyle and mindset that we choose to make happen throug...

How to start leveling up

As the Happiness Warrior, I’ve always thought that the best way to look at life is that we are all players in a great game with many levels and dimensions. This helps me to understand my place in the universe and the ability to shape my destiny. I ...