Happiness is a Moral Obligation

These are my wonderful Yoga students at the filming of my Yoga DVD/CD Combo, www.yogastopstudios.com

This was a title of an article in the Jewish Journal, which I love to read on my downtime during holidays.  Dennis Prager writes "people should regard bad moods in the same way they regard bad breath or bad body odor:  Inflicting bad moods on others is just as obnoxious as inflicting bad breath or body odor on others.  Just as we try to brush away bad breath and wash away body odor, we should try to brush and wash away bad moods."

I find this very powerful, a person's energy and mood affects everyone they come across.  I feel in the world there are two extreme types of people, happy no matter what and worry about everything, and everyone else falls in the middle.  My mother is a happy no matter what personality, which is amazing on a day to day basis, but I feel she would find the positive in a natural disaster instead of taking action.

I am surrounded by worriers, and it is a big challenge for me, I am a lot like my mother, but I also like to take action, I would like to think I am the happy middle.  When worriers cross my path, my monster comes out, and I want to challenge it.  I strive to surround myself around happy energy, and try to inspire and create it in my Yoga classes.  Beyond the classes where I am happy to have everyone come and absorb and grow.  In my personal life I am very careful about who I let in, because I know if my buttons are pushed, I will be drawn out of my happy place.

This is always tested around raising children, makes me laugh, children take us out of our egotistical and self absorbed world that we live in before, and throw us in face first into complete honesty and reality.  Thank God there are rewards as well, but I am sure you have heard the notion that God made children cute for a reason, so we keep loving them amidst the challenges they throw at us.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend, mine was a specific holiday about the Jewish people accepting the laws of God.  It is a very powerful holiday where learning is happening non stop, and insights constantly occur into how to interact with our fellow human beings and our spirituality.  One of the things I love most about our philosophy is to be happy and live in the moment are the deep roots of it all.  Seriously, what is the point otherwise, we are on this earth to be challenged and grow, so why not make the best out of everything?  When it gets rough, maybe go to a laughter Yoga class, or see a comedy, maybe listen to some music that gets you into a happy space.  Find a healthy release, communicate with your partner and family, it does wonders when everyone is honest and gets on the same page.

I guess that is the work that each individual has to accomplish, whatever is thrown your way, find the path out and elevate.  If you stay stuck, I feel its a choice, maybe professional help is necessary, to seek it, or for family and friends to seek it for us is also a choice.  We are on this earth with free will, to consciously choose our path, the path is in our own hands.

Feel your power, use it for good, spread the happy energy,
Coach Yulia