Take me to my Happy Place!

When trying something difficult, or when having to deal with something unpleasant, we often talk about needing to go to our "happy place". A delightful world where everything is peaceful, calm, sane, rational. Where chocolate is calorie-free, rainbows fill the sky and everyone is happy.

In part, we are acknowledging that what we have to do right now is distasteful. But... what if you did have a happy place you could go to? At any time and anywhere?

I do. Mine is past a gate, up a grassy path and into a cool deep forest. I'm always barefoot so I can feel the moss and grass and leaves underfoot. I can smell the fresh air with that sharp cleanliness it has after a storm. There's a stream through the forest and sometimes I follow it out to a clearing and lie under a willow tree near the bank and dangle my fingers in the water. Sometimes it's sunny and I feel the warmth seeping into my back as I lie there.

You can have one too! Think about an environment which you would feel relaxed in: perhaps it's in front of a cosy fireplace surrounded by shelves of books, perhaps you've just climbed to the top of the mountain and you can survey the world, maybe you're floating in a pool or a pond.

Hold the image in your mind, or write it out so you can help remember it later. After a while you'll have recalled it so many times you won't need any prompts: it will always be there.

I find it helpful to give my happy place a boundary (in my case, the gate), which provides a mental cue to take a deep breath or two and open up my mental senses to my world. The more senses you can involve, the easier it is to maintain the image. I mentioned touch (the moss under bare feet), smell (the fresh air) and of course sight.

You can use this as a meditation aid, or as a place to help you relax as you drift off to sleep, or just somewhere to go when you shut your eyes for a few moments for a quiet mental holiday.

Happy place. Happy place. Happy place!