Let me remind you: Happiness is a practice.

Our mainstream culture would have you buy into the myth that happiness is an end state. A place you will reach when you finally get that house/job/relationship/shoe/validation. There's this misconception dressed up as truth that you're either happy, or you're not. And if you're not happy, you must be failing at life.

But happiness is a practice. It's a process. It waxes and wanes. It can be self-contradicting. Our amazing hearts can hold great happiness and deep unhappiness side by side. Happiness might spark unhappiness (love lost) and unhappiness can lead to happiness (transformation). Your willingness to feel unhappy is as important as your willingness to feel happy. It means that you are making yourself beautifully vulnerable to the realities of life, love, loss and learning. It's all part of the practice.

Engage that practice with appreciation for the joy of the high's as well as the instruction of the low's. May you thrive, be nurtured and share warmth this season.

~Alex

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