Expat Happiness Tip #1: Fertile Ground For Happiness

Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life
3 comments

May is Expat Happiness month at Winning Away!
Throughout the month, we are looking at techniques and tools you can use to boost your happiness as an expat. To start things off, I would like to take a moment to ponder this thought:

The most fertile ground for happiness is when you are at peace with the past, content with the present, and hopeful about the future.

Of course this is an ideal to tend toward, not something you can or will achieve overnight. And the very nature of the expat life can make things a little tricky. When you feel like you are constantly in transition, it is a very normal tendency to dwell on the past, discount the present moment or obsess over what the future may bring.

What are three things you can do to help create your own fertile ground for happiness? What about picking one action for the past, one for the present and one for the future?

Your actions can be concrete or symbolic – but if you choose a symbolic action, give it a tangible component to make it more real. For instance, you could compose a song about a place you terribly miss, or you could write a letter to your future self to reassure him or her that everything will be all right in your next location.

Taking a page from my own book, I spent an hour on the phone this morning mending a family relationship with someone back in Europe. Let me tell you that it was anything but a pleasant conversation. It was well worth it in terms of happiness though. Working on healing the past, feeling content with where the relationship is at now, and with a much more optimistic outlook on our future conversations, I can genuinely say that this phone call made me happier, however uncomfortable it may have been in the moment.

Emmanuelle