To catch happiness, do what you love and what is important to you.

As a person who writes about happiness, it is easy for me to fall into the trap of over-thinking it. I start to worry about whether I am happy or not. Of course, if I am worrying about it, I am definitely not happy.

At times like these, I just get up and do something. I might work on a project, take a walk, call a friend, or clean the house. Any change to action helps get me out of the worry habit, but changing to an activity that I enjoy and that challenges me not only jolts me out of worry, it raises my energy level and boosts me into happiness. These activities give me a kind of happiness called flow.

Flow is that state where everything seems to fall into place and you perform perfectly in a challenging situation. Athletes often call it being in the zone, artists say they are inspired, and adventurers talk about it as a peak moment. It is a happy state of mind that takes us completely outside ourselves and into our activity. When we are in flow, we do not think about whether we are happy or not, although, in remembering the time we always remember it as happy.

Flow happens when our level of skill and our level of challenge are equally matched in an activity with a clear and worthy goal and clear feedback on how we are doing. Games, building something, or performing something with a group are all good examples of activities that create flow. So, the next time you feel worried or a little down--

To catch happiness, do what you love and what is important to you.

Journal or Meditation Question
What activities absorb my full attention? What do I practice all the time? When have I experienced flow, or being in the zone, or being inspired, or having a peak moment?

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