I recently spent four days at the 2016 ‘Happiness and its Causes’ conference and associated workshops. What an amazing trip it was for me! Between attending the scheduled presentations, visiting ‘The Wellness Show’ expo, reconnecting with people I met at last year’s conference, and forging new friendships, I was left feeling exhausted and inspired at the same time.
I didn’t think anything would top last year’s conference (Hello! The Dalai Lama was there!). But I think this year was even better. A big part of that is probably due to the growth that I’ve experienced in the nine months since then. It provided me with a good base for this conference to build on.
I’ll write more about various parts of the conference over coming weeks. I couldn’t possibly sum up four days of amazingness in one blog post, but there are definitely many things that I want to share.
If you want to read some brief snippets, just visit my Twitter page (you don’t have to have a Twitter account to read my tweets). All my tweets from the conference are tagged with #happinessconf.
For me, the theme of last year’s conference was compassion, empathy and love. This year, the theme that resonated with me was life purpose, and knowing the ‘why’ behind the things you do. It gave me goosebumps to hear the presenters talk about this, as I now fully understand my own purpose. And this blog is part of it – sharing what I’ve learnt and experienced. And I’m finding that everything in my life has become aligned with this.
But it wasn’t always like this for me.
I remember a time when I thought that my opportunity to do something worthwhile had passed. I thought it was too late for me.
And I blamed this mostly on myself – on my life choices. There were times when I wished that I’d gone to university straight out of school, instead of choosing to study dance full time. Or that I had gotten a job straight away, and saved enough money so that I then had more security to step away and do something that really matters.
But then it dawned on me. It’s NEVER too late. There are ALWAYS opportunities. Yes, you might have to adjust the steps that you take to get there. But just start moving. Who cares if you have to move in teeny-tiny steps? A step is a step.
Our life and our happiness are within our own control. But we can’t move forward if we are holding onto negative things from the past, and that includes blaming yourself or holding onto regrets.
Personally, I try to do something every day that is linked to my purpose. I even have a checklist to mark this off so that I don’t let myself get off track (told you I’m incredibly left-brained!).
So my question to you is, what will YOU do today to help steer your life in the direction of your choosing?
‘Be an active co-creator of your life, not a victim. Let go of the blame and resentment.’ (Petrea King)
I’d love to hear your responses and thoughts on this! Feel free to comment below, or come and chat on Facebook!
It is never too late! Absolutely love to see that you arrived where you did and that this conference really helped you to reflect. You’ve inspired me to stop holding myself back today. Onwards and upwards!
Thanks Kate! I hope you managed to do something today to help you move forward 🙂 We hold ourselves back more than anyone or anything else does!
I LOVE this!! It is seriously never too late. My mum always reinforced this idea to us as kids. And then she went back to university when she was in her late thirties to become a teacher – something she had always wanted to do. You will only ever regret it if you don’t take the chance.
I totally agree, Krystal! I started uni at age 35, and it turned out I was enrolled in something that wasn’t what I wanted to do after all! But it led to me working out what I do want to do. Sometimes you have to try something, anything, to work that out! 🙂
It’s never too late – and often the choices that we made when we were younger (those things we think of as mistakes) are what allow us to be even better in living our purpose!
You’re right, Tamsin! There are no mistakes, only lessons!
I’m always working towards what I want to do. It would be nice if life was flexible enough to be able to just drop one thing and do something else but sadly you need to work within existing constraints. So I’m trying to make the most of what I have while I work towards getting my PhD. It’s slow and it’s hard but at least I’m going in the right direction.
Kudos to you for working hard to get there! I know exactly what you mean – it may be easier to drop everything and follow a dream when you are younger with no commitments, but that shouldn’t give us an excuse to not give it a go later in life, or when we have commitments and responsibilities. And those commitments and responsibilities just add to our bucket of life experience, and that’s never a bad thing!
Such a great post! It really resonated with when you said you felt it was too late….that’s my battle at the moment. To answer your question, I will push through and work on my projects. Stop hesitating so much that I don’t do anything!x
I totally get it. But I spent far too long doing nothing because I thought that ship had sailed. I’m glad that you’re aware of your battle and have decided to push on! Eat the elephant one bite at a time! 🙂
Wow what an empowering POST!!! Thank you sooo much! I needed to hear this today as this have been something that have weight on me with all my tons of ‘what ifs’ and shoud’ve would’ve! Love it and thank you again xx
Thank you for your lovely words! I’m so glad this has helped you. We have so much potential and power if we let go of those regrets and what-ifs! Go forth and be amazing!!!
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