Happiness (noun)

Definition: a state of well-being and contentment.

It is the one emotion every human craves to feel at every point in time but does that make it the only valuable one? In recent times, there has been an increase in the rejection of suffering, and while I don't believe that anyone should suffer just because of suffering's sake, I also believe that suffering creates an avenue for us to truly connect with ourselves on a deeper level. As much as happiness is a wonderful emotion to experience, it does not make sense to want to experience just it all day, every day because emotions are signals of what is going on within us and around us. Discomfort and sacrifice for the greater good tend to have a more significant impact on our lives than wanting to feel good all the time.

I learned this in my personal life and it took a lot of time for me to come to terms with it because as a kid, you were happy almost all the time. Even if you weren't, a huge chunk of your happiness was not your responsibility, it was your parents but as an adult, it is a whole different ballgame. Your emotions are yours and yours alone to navigate. Moving from self-dysregulation to regulation in a healthy way is not an easy task to accomplish especially when you are not armed with the right coping mechanism tools which is why a lot of people turn to drugs, food, alcohol, and other unhealthy ways to self-soothe. However, sadness, rage, guilt, and shame while being negative emotions can be used as signals and pointers to understand yourself better and also navigate the complex world of your emotions instead of being repressed to get yourself to only feel happiness. Ignoring the feelings doesn't make them go away, instead, it might cause more harm than good.

Society teaches us that certain emotions are bad and some are good, which I don't entirely agree with. That being said, it doesn't mean that you should not strive to be happy as much as you can because being positive opens a lot more doors, makes you feel good, and helps your overall health, it means you should always seek to understand your emotions and the messages they are trying to convey. It is the way your body communicates with you and being aware of that would help you identify what is important to you. Everyone is going to move from one end of the scale to the other which is from positive to negative emotions at some point in their day or lives. The goal is to move with intent and understanding at every point.

#AMAKACohortFeb2024