The Happiness Explorer
How to…identify the blocks that are holding you back
By Lydia Kimmerling
Have you ever been stuck in that cycle of wanting to change your life and not knowing why you’re not? Watching yourself do exactly the thing that’s making you unhappy and having no understanding of why you’re not taking the action you want to take? Maybe you long to create a better life for yourself where you’re earning more money, or you love your body, or you’ve met your soul mate or you are living in the location of your dreams, but that all seems so out of reach. Or maybe you have everything; a great job, awesome friends, a beautiful home, and money, but you still do not feel content and you don’t know why.
Keep reading because I will reveal why and help you to break this cycle, igniting your spirit and elevating your life. I confessed a secret to myself. Hearing the words out loud turned my stomach in the same way it does when you finally admit you’ve been wrong about something. It felt like I was attending a board meeting where I’d said something that nobody liked — a table of emotions judging my realisation. Shame was at the head of the table, anxiety to its left and guilt on the right. Oh god, here we go, I thought! I’m never going to speak up with these heavyweights here. In my mind’s eye, I stood and cleared my throat so that I could confess something I’ve always known but have never owned: “My name is Lydia and I’m never content.” How often do you feel truly content?
It’s hard to admit that you’re not content because quite often we don’t actually know what to do about it, so it becomes easier to convince ourselves that we are happy, when actually we feel stuck in life; maybe that’s stuck in our relationship, or how we feel about ourselves, or with our health, or in our finances, or with our career.
This dissatisfaction then becomes a pain that’s felt in our spirit and because we can’t run from our spirit, we try to lose ourselves, which manifests itself as behaviours and habits that we don’t like but can’t stop; like drinking too much, working too hard, dating the wrong people, being addicted to sugar, scrolling on social media, binge watching Netflix, having meaningless sex, spending money we don’t have and so on.
There are six happiness blocks which secretly sabotage your happiness and success and until you understand how these blocks are working in your life they will continue to rob you of the happiness and success that is rightfully yours.
The six blocks are:
1. The fear of the unknown
2. The fear of not being good enough
3. The fear of being wrong
4. The fear of being judged
5. The fear of failure
6. The fear of change
Maybe just reading these you already know which one is sabotaging you? We all have a dominant block which is usually driving the behaviour that is holding us back from more happiness and success. The good news is that it’s not about eliminating the fear, it’s about using it to drive positive change.
The first step is just acknowledging that it’s there. So if you feel blocked in some way, ask yourself whether it’s related to one of these happiness blocks first.
Loved this and want to find out what your happiness block is? Follow Lydia Kimmerling on Instagram @lydiakimmerling or visit her website: thehappinessexplorer.com
Om Magazine
First published in November 2009, OM Yoga magazine has become the most popular yoga title in the UK. Available from all major supermarkets, independents and newsstands across the UK. Also available on all digital platforms.
