Joy!

Coral Gables Counseling Center - Wednesday, April 15, 2020
By Courtney Waugh, LMFT

Our current situation is tough. There is suffering, fear, uncertainty and so many challenging situations for a lot of people.

So, with all that, are we allowed to be happy? Are we allowed to be okay?

The answer is absolutely. It’s imperative. But how?

hand heart around sun

Let’s start with the first question, are we allowed.

Worrying, angsting, and living in fear does not prevent struggles. Nor does it mean one cares more. Being happy, feeling joy, and being okay does not mean one does not have struggles and it does not mean one cares less.

With all that’s going on, it’s important to allow joy.

It can be hard to embrace such emotion in such a tough time.

To embrace joy, we must be in gratitude, as a researcher and world-renown speaker, Brene Brown, says.

When we find gratitude in something it opens our heart to truly feel happiness, to feel joy.

And let me permit you to open your heart to gratitude, to experience happiness in your day, to feel joy in your heart even with everything going on.

Be in the moment when your heart is open as fear cannot live in the same space as gratitude.

Allow yourself to be okay while still recognizing the empathy and compassion you have for others and that you don’t have to absorb the anxiety, the fears, the uncertainty to care, and to be of help.