Living Happily Ever After

When interning at Hospice over 10 years ago, I thought Ever After would be a great name for my practice one day. I love the way fairy tales end - "and they lived happily ever after". It's just that we can't live "happily" all the time. If we didn't know sadness, we wouldn't understand happiness, right? So Ever After - sometimes happy, sometimes not so much - made sense.

I'm often asked how to help others feel better about unfortunate situations. Gratitude truly helps fill the soul. Feeling thankful for great people in our lives, for those who make us laugh and smile. Feeling fortunate about the positives in your life - what you're good at, what works, what has gone well. Being thankful for having had the chance to know and love people in our lives who have passed on - they have become part of us and helped shape us into who we are.

Too often we don't embrace our strengths enough. We put ourselves down and allow others to make us feel bad about our differences. Or we live for others, putting ourselves last and caring for their needs before any of our own. We fall into these roles, like old slippers - they feel comfortable, so we let them be.

As spring and a time of renewal enters your life, think about your positive attributes and what you are thankful for in your life. Then ask yourself what else might make you happy, what might fill your soul and put a spring in your step. Helping others always feels good. Yet, helping ourselves is equally important. Find that wish list and make a plan, even just one. As we mentioned last March, think about your life as a chapter book. Isn't it time to live happily ever after in this particular chapter?

Laughter is equally as important as gratitude to keep you smiling. On Tuesday, March 22nd at 7pm, join me at the Reading Public Library as I complete the Winter Wellness Series, "Live, Love, Laugh" with a FREE program dedicated to laughter, truly life's best medicine. Laugh with us as I share stories and video clips that reduce stress, tickle our funny bone, and touch the heart. Living happily ever after is in your future - embrace it, believe, and make it happen!