Have you ever had that moment where you had great, fantastic, amazing news to share but then felt guilty because the person listening to your happiness was having a bad day? Maybe you tried to downplay your joy to balance the scales? In this episode, we are talking about happiness guilt.  

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life.

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and I was wondering, have you ever been so happy you’ve felt guilty for it?  I mean, there are starving children.  Millions of people are suffering, there is job loss, poor health, so much suffering.  Yet, you seem pretty happy on this hypothetical happiness scale.  You almost don't want to tell people how good you are feeling.

As crazy as this sounds, going down the rabbit hole of anger and despair, even for the most righteous causes, only puts you in a doom and gloom and that is not helpful or productive for yourself and the people around you. 

Happiness is often something we work toward everyday.  We choose happiness.  Through an Arthur Brook’s article, I was introduced to the work of one of the first great Hindu monks to come to the West, Paramhansa Yogananda.  He said “Learn to be secretly happy within your heart in spite of all circumstances, and say to yourself: Happiness is the greatest Divine birthright—the buried treasure of my Soul.”

Arthur Brooks would take it even further and say “share your buried treasure with those around you.”

Whether you believe in thought leaders from a century ago or the relevant research today, or you just have a gut feeling that happiness is the key that unlocks so much fulfillment, then you already know that there is no need to keep your happiness secret, suppress it, or bury it under complaints and outrage.

The research is overwhelmingly clear, sharing happiness with others improves both your life and the lives around you.    

So share what you are happy about and use the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram so we can cheer you on.

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