YOU Are Your Sunshine!
A few weeks ago, I woke up with the song You Are My Sunshine... My Only Sunshine... playing over and over in my head. It's a sweet song of someone confessing their love for another by describing them as their sunshine. "You make me happy when skies are gray."
As sweet as the song may sound it really got me thinking about the message it conveyed. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you'll never know dear how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away"
Your sunshine should never be that easy to take away.
It may be a romantic notion to feel as though we can't live without the love of a specific person, but the reality is the only person's love we can't afford to live without is our own. We all have the ability to beckon our own sunshine anytime we need it. And we should realize how utterly impossible it is for someone else to take our sunshine away.
photo by joey nicotra on unsplash
Our culture here in the US, is extremely accustomed to wanting and even feeling as though we need outside sources to make us feel good. Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, adrenaline, people, and things are constantly sought after as though they have some magical ingredient that will make us happy, fix our woes, and change our moods. The part hard to reconcile is that due to our physical chemistry, all those things do have the ability to spark a change in our moods... temporarily. And as a result we are continuously out searching for the next thing that can give us that chemical high. As with almost anything, if we could do this in moderation and with awareness, we would be just fine, however, very few of us have reached a level of awareness that gives us the ability to monitor such actions.
It's time to do something about that. It's time for us to take a proactive stance in our own development. As individuals we need to empower ourselves with the tools and lessons that will help us become more aware. Currently most of us have an automatic response to seek things outside ourselves for comfort, but with awareness we can begin to detach from seeking outside sources for our happiness. We can moment by moment remind ourselves that we have the capability to make our own sunshine.
We owe it to ourselves, our friends and our loved ones to be able to make ourselves happy when our skies are gray. When we rid ourselves of the expectation we place on outside stimuli to change or effect our mood, we give ourselves the opportunity to start relying on our internal thoughts for comfort, and happiness. This not only improves our relationships with our selves, it also allows our relationships with others to become stronger and healthier.
Just think, if we stop expecting our friends, family or loved ones to be the bearer of our happiness we also remove the disappointment we might experience if they were unable to provide us with the happiness we were seeking. Why would we ever make it the responsibility of someone else to make US happy, and then, on top of that, hold it against them if they were unsuccessful in doing so? As utterly ridiculous as this may be, we do this all too often.
I myself have been a culprit of this ridiculousness. I have a very short list of people that I seek out when I'm feeling not so happy. But, seriously, how rude of me to put that obligation on them!! Talk about performance anxiety! That is a lot of weight to put on someone that we care about, not to mention, it seems a very unnecessary pressure for any type of relationship.
I'm not saying we can't find comfort in the company of our friends, that we can't reach out to them for support and guidance, but I am saying that the moods and emotions we experience are completely on US! Our emotions and happiness are no one else's responsibility or job. Our loved ones are there to support us in whatever emotion we may be experiencing, but they should never be given the impossible task of being our only sunshine or be given the ultimate power to take our sunshine away.
So, my request of you is to take an honest look at what outside sources you rely on for a mood boost, or what outside sources you seek to provide yourself with a temporary dose of happiness. Become aware of those crutches and how often you depend on them. Educate yourself on ways to go inward for your joy and remind yourself over and over again, that YOU are your sunshine.
If you want this for yourself, and just don’t know HOW to get there then I am here to help you. But I can’t help you if I don’t know about you. So please, take a chance and reach out to me. I’ve provided you a link below to schedule an illumination call with me. Let’s talk! I want to help you.