You can only find happiness inside – Children can help bring it out

My 7-month old Paige looks up at the trees and smiles. She happily sits and watches her brother and sister run around the yard or dance or build blocks. When she giggles her whole body feels it and I can’t help but smile too.

My children continually inspire me to feel more, and to feel better.

Children feel so strongly. Their joy is so immense that it’s contagious. Their feelings of fear, sadness, and frustration are strong too. But they let us know how they are feeling as best they can and then they move on. It is different in each stage—for Paige it is just crying—then I do my best to make her feel better. And usually she is back to smiling. Too often I hold on to negative feelings longer then I have to. I try to be more like my children and feel what I feel then let it go.

Happy baby brings out the happy inside us.

My children inspire me to feel happy more.

If I am stuck in feelings of worry or fear, I can’t feel love and joy from my children. Being around them all day does inspire me to feel the same happy feelings as them. I’m continually reminded that I can only find happiness inside me. Can children help bring that happy out? Yes, but its up to me.  It comes from inside. I have to choose to feel love.

Figure our what makes you happy—it will be different for everyone—and make time for it everyday.

For some people, being at work makes them most happy or being up flying an airplane or walking their dog. Whatever it is, we have to choose to do the things everyday that make us happy.  I can’t be my best and react lovingly to what happens everyday if I don’t make some time for the things that fill me up.

When we feel fulfilled, we can be a happy, calm presence for our children.

We have to carve time in our day for us to be our best for our children. At different stages in your life that time will be different. For me, as a mom of littles, sometimes I only get 5 minutes. But that 5 minutes of calm may be all I need to relax and get into a state of love. It doesn’t matter if you work at home, away from the home. What is important is that when we are with our children, we give them attention, love and happiness.

You can’t give love if you don’t feel it inside. Our happiness comes from inside. And when we feel happy, our children can let their happy out too. And when our children our happy, life is beautiful.