When you lose something, what do you do?  In most cases, you retrace your steps until you come to the place you last had whatever it is that you lost.

Have you ever lost your happiness?  I have.  I’m sure some of you reading this have too.  How do you find your happiness if you lose it?

Many years ago, I was in a very negative space.  My self-esteem was extremely low.  My self-confidence had been crushed into oblivion.  I was able though, to recognize that I needed help, so I sought out therapy.  During one of my sessions with my therapist I made a statement while speaking about a particular time in my life.  The statement crystallized in my brain the moment I spoke it: “That was the happiest time of my life.”

The statement struck a chord in me and I realized that I had never uttered those words about that time of my life before, even to myself.

Through my therapy sessions, I regained my self-esteem.  I put back together my self-confidence.  I found the courage to end an emotionally destructive marriage.  I closed my business, which had been my dream to open.  However, I had been naive and should never have opened it with the business partner that I did.  To top it all off, my family disowned me because I didn’t agree with their religion.

My happiness was still lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I had happy events coming to me during all of this.  However, when you’ve lost your happiness, these events don’t bring the joy that they usually would.  Even the little things in life, the things that should be easy to see and enjoy, are lackluster.  When you’ve lost your happiness, you see everything with a shadow over your eyes in a sense.  The joy is dampened.

I had to find my happiness!

Then I recalled that statement I had made about a certain time in my life.  “That was the happiest time of my life.”  What had I been doing?  What made me so happy?

In order to find my happiness, I had to retrace my steps.  I had to go back to the last place I remembered having it.  I looked back….and I saw….

….To Be Continued – Check back next week for Part 2 of my story.