There is great joy, and WONDER, that can be found in the anticipation of something that has not yet arrived, whether that be a special event, the dream of something you wish to happen, the attainment of a certain professional goal, or something simple like a really good dinner or the watching of your favorite show.
The inspiring phrase, “enjoy the journey” may sound simple, yet it is an empowering technique to create daily happiness.
Scientific research has found that the more you allow yourself to experience the joy and uplifting excitement of anticipation, the more easily you will be able to overcome obstacles that may present themselves to you on the way to that something. Studies have actually found that the looking forward to a vacation is more pleasurable than often the time spent actually on the vacation.
In our modern culture, we have become accustomed to nearly instant reward and gratification. We can go online, buy something, and receive it quickly with next day mail. When we want something, we can usually find a cheap and affordable option so that we do not have to wait and save our money for the quality and more expensive version. More so than in humanities past, many of us have become accustomed to getting the things we want now really fast, and we have lost the familiarity of the joyful experience of looking forward to something.
The key to creating daily happiness is to allow ourselves to be excited and joyful about that which has not yet happened.
From daily experiences, I have found that there is one obvious and BIG difference between my happy days and my sad days. The difference maker being the presence or lack of joyful anticipation and hope.
When I am feeling down, sad or depressed, the joy of anticipation and hope is absent. When I feel sad and down, it is usually because in that moment I do not feel hope or excitement for the future. (This is a sad emotional state of being, and yet one that is commonly felt by many people.)
On my happy days, I vibrate with the frequency of joy and excitement for a whole variety of things that I am looking forward to happening. In that sureness and faith that these things that I look forward to will happen, I live in the present moment knowing that all is well and things are working out. I have found that from a joyful state of mind, it is much easier to handle challenges and hardships when they arise. Along with the feeling of “life is good” comes an empowered perspective that challenges can be handled because good things are happening and will happen, even though sometimes they do not.
I am not saying that life is more beautiful without sadness and loss. It is from the depths of sadness, that we often learn about the magical wonder of love and happiness. Even as an empowered creator of daily joy, I visit the emotional places of despair and worry occasionally. It was actually because of those days of feeling sad and depressed that inspired and necessitated the need for me to commit to a daily and weekly practice to find and share joy, wonder and gratitude with the world. From the dark place of worry and fear, the inspired concept to be an intentional joy and wonder seeker was born. Now inspiring others to create happiness and appreciate daily wonders is my passion.
I know what it feels like to be a happy person with hopes and dreams and have them not work out. I have had dreams manifest beautiful, and others not go as planned. There will always be things you are really excited about that go differently than envisioned, or do not happen at all. If you forgo experiencing the joy of dreams, than you lose your ability to be as excited about your life. If you wait to feel joy until what you want actually manifests, than you miss out on all the potential to experience joy on the journey to fulfillment. This is no way to create daily happiness. Keeping yourself safe from disappointment is a ticket to an unhappy life.
It’s a certainty of life, that things are not always going to turn out how we wish. If we forgo excited anticipation, we miss out on a necessary way to feel the hopefulness of daily joy and wonder that makes life worth living.
Without hope or anticipation, life can feel unhappy and hopeless…
Make a commitment to yourself to be excited about the things that are yet to come. Let yourself be happy in the expecting, and not impatient or frustrated that what you want has not yet happened, because you know it will if you take the necessary actions. Let yourself be happy and excited! You have the wish, you work towards it’s manifestation, you have fun expecting it to happen, you know it will, so you’re not frustrated that it has not happened yet… and then it actually does happen.
Life will always be a mixed bag of things going as planned, things going better than planned, things going differently than planned, and things going much worse than planned. The key to creating daily happiness is allowing ourselves to find joy and wonder in the journey to our goals, dreams, and needs.
Commit, daily, to celebrating the excitement of something that is to come. It sure leads to a happier day filled with wonder and hope. Challenges and problems are not as big of an issue when we are happier and feeling more resourceful.
It is a daily commitment to find joy in anticipation. Practices like this have to be committed to every day, especially when you are forming new habits. It is important to have excited anticipation about even the surest and most short term things because it is fun to feel excitement and then have it actually happen. Sometimes, trying to be excited about something for months and months on end can lead to excitement burnout. Having things to be excited about in all ranges of time frames is important. Short term goals are helpful and can be celebrated on the journey to a larger goal.
These are some helpful ideas to keep in mind as you practice feeling anticipatory joy and hope…
- Make small attainable goals that can be celebrated each step along the way. (It is rewarding to envision a goal, take action, have it happen, and celebrate it.)
- Remember life is a journey, and the best way to create happiness, is to live in the present moment.
- Keep perspective about what life is all about. Remember life is about happiness and love.
- Be kind with yourself when things do not go as planned.
- Realize that there is a lot in life to be excited about. It is ok if an outcome does not turn out as planned because there is something else to be excited about.
- When anxiety starts creeping in, reach for the feeling of something happy that could happen.
I hope that these ideas are helpful for how you can experience and cultivate more happiness in your daily life. Comment and share how you find joy in the anticipation of that which has not yet happened.
The joy of anticipation really is a wonderment. Have fun basking in the joy of all the amazing things to come. If everything were to manifest instantaneously, life really would not be all that fun. The waiting is the exciting part…