happiness and joy

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Here is a small extract from my book FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS:

A core aspect to finding your happiness is to understand who you are, what drives you and most importantly: What will make you happy. These are unique to the individual, just like your fingerprints.

Parts of the ‘Self’

Everyone has different parts of the ‘Self’ that make up the whole of who they are. The different parts of your Self include:

★ The Physical Self – your body.
★ The Mental Self – your thoughts.
★ The Emotional Self – your emotions.
★ The Spiritual Self – your soul.

All these parts contribute to who you are and are interconnected.

All of these parts contribute to your behaviour – what you say and do.

Your spiritual self or soul is perhaps the most mysterious of all the parts. We know very little about souls. What is their purpose? How do they operate? The truth is that nobody can answer these questions with absolute certainty.

There are plenty of theories about souls. Just look at the many religious and spiritual systems in the world today. I personally believe that any work we do to understand our spiritual self, helps us to more deeply understand the universe and how everything is interconnected.

The interaction between these different parts of the Self, the influence they have on one another and our behaviour is very complex and constantly changing.

But a couple of example scenarios here will help you to understand that the different parts of your Self can and do influence one another:

Example Scenario 1: Anxiety

A really good example of the interaction between the different parts of the Self in action, is the state of anxiety. Anxiety starts through a trigger. A trigger is an event or experience that causes something to happen.

Imagine you have been triggered. In your mind anxious thoughts start to form. Then you start to feel the emotion of fear. Your physical self responds to these thoughts and emotions. Your heart beats faster, you become more alert and your appetite decreases.

In the scenario above, your thoughts influenced your emotional state. Then your physical body responded to both your thoughts and your emotional state.

It is important to know that just because you’re currently focused on one part of your Self, it doesn’t mean that the other parts are inactive.

Let’s look at another example scenario to illustrate my point:

Example Scenario 2: Exercise

Imagine you have gone for a run. Your physical self is firing on all cylinders – your heart beats fast, your lungs inhale oxygen rapidly and your muscles propel you forwards. But as you run, the other parts of your Self are not inactive.

In your mind, you may be thinking about events earlier in your day. You may think about something that triggers your emotions. These thoughts or emotions may cause you to run faster, run slower or stop running altogether.

To summarise, all parts of your Self (Physical, Mental, Emotional & Spiritual) interact with one another. They can influence one another. This in turn can influence your behaviour – what you say, do and omit to do.

In terms of happiness, it is really important to consider each part of your Self. Happiness can only be achieved when all parts of you are working in tandem with one another. All parts of your Self must be in a state of unity.

You can read more in my book FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS, which is available to buy on Amazon here.

Blog soon,

Antony