Quantum Happiness Series - Build a healthy, happy life

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This is a platform where we share ways to build a healthy, happy life because happiness is built not bought.

This post begins the Quantum Happiness Series. During the following months, we will post excerpts from the Everyday Vacay e-series designed to help you anticipate and enjoy every single day by seeing modern life from the quantum perspective.

Woman on beach - Vacay Everyday on TammyTalk.com

Photo by Max on Unsplash

Vacation vision

“Life is an adventure. It’s not a package tour.”

– Eckhart Tolle

We all have different ideal vacations. Some prefer the beach, while others opt for snow skiing or even mountain climbing.

Whatever your idea of a perfect vacation, chances are it includes adventure and excitement, an escape from the ordinary day-to-day grind. But:

· Why not invite adventure and excitement into every day?

· Why squeeze passion and exhilaration into two weeks a year?

· Why delegate fun and frolicking to time away from home?

· Why not make life the ultimate adventure?

It’s easier than you think. By taking control of your valuable time and energy, you will create space for bright light and bold color in every corner of your life. In other words, you’ll put a little vacay in every day!

Here's how

ENNUI AND ME:

For years, I worked and raised a family. My days were filled with writing, editing, teaching, deadlines, school functions, sporting events, housework, homework, and multiple miscellaneous errands.

I enjoyed my work, loved my family, and wouldn’t have changed a thing, but I was tired and frustrated. I longed for a vacation full of adventure and excitement but didn’t have the time to plan it nor the energy to prepare for it. I needed to anticipate more than a weekend shopping trip or date night, but there was hardly time for a shower, much less adventure. I had no energy for excitement, no purpose for passion. I was stuck.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?

Ennui – a mood of deep weariness and discontent – is caused by overindulgence, not in food or alcohol, but overindulgence in all the good things life has to offer. In other words, my discontent was a side-effect of having it all, of living in a quantum world with opportunity everywhere and stuffing myself with experiences, possessions, and responsibilities.

I was living the American dream and it was crushing me, sapping my time and energy, leaving me drained and dispirited. I was so busy maintaining my quantum lifestyle, I didn’t have time to enjoy my life. Little did I know, I was not alone. More than 70% of Americans report physical and psychological symptoms related to ennui. (Source: American Psychological Association / American Institute of Stress.)

Low energy/ fatigue
Anxiety/ stress
Insomnia
Decreased motivation
Lack of passion and purpose

Historically ennui was a cousin of boredom and angst, but modern-day ennui has evolved into a much more pervasive, destructive force.

TAIL ON FIRE?

Modern ennui is characterized by what I refer to as the “tail-on-fire” syndrome. When in the grip of this syndrome, we run around day after day with our tail on fire trying desperately to put it out while struggling to enjoy all that we have: the job, the family, the house, the pets, the car, the wardrobe, the phone, the toys.

HAVING IT ALL:

Many of us believe that in today’s world, we don’t have to choose what we want. We can have it all. I myself am a victim of that mindset, but I assure you it is inherently flawed and simply not true. By trying to “have it all,” we are actually giving it all away. Our time, our energy, and our passion are valuable, limited resources and easily depleted.

PROGRAMMING OR PROPAGANDA:

This notion of having it all presented itself in the late 1960’s and 70’s when millions of women made the transition from wife, mother, and homemaker to working woman, wife, mother, and homemaker.

We were told that we could:

“Bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let you forget you’re a man, ‘cause I’m a woman,”
By Enjoli Perfume in an incredibly successful 1979 marketing campaign based on a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1962.

With lyrics such as,

“I can rub & scrub this old house til it's shinin like a dime. Feed the baby, grease the car, and powder my face at the same time…
Lay down at 5, jump up at 6, and start all over again, 'cause I'm a woman,
W-O-M-A-N!”
songs, advertisements, and television programming encouraged women to take pride in being a “24-hour woman,” an attitude that has persisted for more than 50 years.

But this level of responsibility is both self-defeating and self-destructive. For me and millions of others who lived by the Super W-O-M-A-N creed, there are simply not enough hours in the day to honor all those commitments. I finally realized that I had to do something because I could not keep doing everything.

THE ENNUI EFFECT DEFINED

WHAT I DID:

• I invited inspiration. I uncovered and discovered my goals. I say uncovered because some of my goals had been sitting there covered in dust for years. I got them out, brushed them off, and made them a priority in my life.

• I communicated my intentions first to myself and then to others. I knew that if my goals weren't a priority to me, they certainly wouldn't be a priority to anyone else. So I had to learn to say no to things that didn't support those goals.

• I got organized. I learned to structure my time and energy in a way that brought me closer to those goals every single day.

This has been an excerpt from the Everyday Vacay e-series.

Quantum Happiness Series from the beginning:

Prune Procrastination