How to Be Happy When You're in an Unhappy Situation : zen habits

Wanting to get away from the unhappiness doesn’t make it better. It usually just prolongs the pain.

Instead, tell yourself that it’s OK to feel unhappy. Pause and allow yourself to feel it, to fully immerse in that unhappiness. Be curious about it, explore it, become intimate with it. It’s not pleasant, but it doesn’t kill you. In fact, it’s where the healing starts.

Being alive means feeling pain, feeling fear, feeling disconnected sometimes. Allow yourself to feel it, and imagine that this is what living feels like.

Because life isn’t numbness and avoidance, and it’s not all butterflies and sunshine.