… learn to live the HAPPY Way

I realised that over the years there have been some underlying principles that have kept me moving forwards in a genuinely positive manner. By “genuine” I mean not just the “fake it until you make it”, “grin and bear it” kind of false happy but the sort of happiness that means that even during the bad times, I can bounce back quickly and find opportunities for personal growth and learning.

These principles can be applied to all aspects of the EAST Way and indeed anything that you do whether it’s eating, painting, sports, work or relationships! Remember that the EAST Way applies to life – it’s not just about mindfulness and tai chi.

So, what are these principles?

Honour and listen to your body

What is it telling you?

What do you need? And is your desire just comforting or numbing… or will it result in a conclusion of your underlying issue?

Are you pushing yourself to the point where your body is screaming for you to stop?

How can you nurture it?

Awareness

Focus fully on what you are doing without judgement. Try looking at something beautiful without judging it as beautiful; now try looking at something not beautiful without judging it as not being beautiful. This is not about finding beauty in ugliness but just accepting what you see.

Learn to be with the experience, not liking or disliking whatever you sense.

Practice

Whatever you do, do it with consistency and persistency but in moderation. Avoid the “no pain no gain” approach as this is about striving/trying which means you’re judging.

Regular practice results in progress. Too much can lead to injury or just getting fed up with the activity.

Play

Learn to experiment with things, exploring what happens when you do an activity and observing, not judging.

Learn to fail as failure is part of the experience and you can learn from this.

Enjoy exploring the outcome, like a child playing with sand.

Yield

Sometimes, you have to give up and change what you’re doing.

Learn to go with flow when it’s too tough, and practice acceptance of what is going on and even how you feel.

If you push against a greater force, you will suffer. What happens if you go with the flow or side-step the force?

What opportunities are there for growth? What opportunities are there for personal or career/work/business development? What can you learn? What opportunities are there to practice and develop current skills and abilities?

So, think “HAPPY”!

And now for a…

Bonus principle

Instead of asking, “What’s in it for me?” (even if you don’t formally ask that question, you may notice you feel that you’re looking for the benefits to you), try asking, “How may I serve?”

Whether you’re doing charity work or just making being a friendly ear for someone in a pickle, you will feel good for it.

Tip

It’s possible that you may already do one or more of these principles especially if you work in a particular line of work or are a particular personality type, so I recommend trying to apply one of the other principles that you don’t already apply regularly.

As they say, variety is the spice of life.

Drilling deeper

To really bring this practice to life and truly enjoy joyful flow through Honouring your body and the practice of Awareness, check out our video library (the Life Library) via https://www.wimble.com/library/

FAQ

Is this a substitute for therapy? No, if you need to deal with things that have happened in your past, then please seek the help of a therapist. The HAPPY Way practices can train you to deal with what life throws at you in general.

Isn’t this just resilience? It’s more like resilience+. Resilience is the ability to overcome difficulties, so this is the “bouncing back” that people talk of. The HAPPY Way is about finding positives in troubling times and also feeling less troubled by troubling things as you will develop the ability to process things in a more healthy way.

So if I am being attacked, I just let them attack? No, using the principle of yielding, you would go with it and defend yourself by either using your trained ability (if you’re trained) or running away or seeking help, as that is what the event is forcing you to do.