Ever look in the window as you are strolling by a shop and see something that draws you near it?

You buy it, get it home and it doesn’t bring you the joy that you thought it would?

That got me thinking. We window-shop our lives. We look outside ourselves at the displays that the world provides (job titles, houses, cars, social circles, clothes, music, things) and buy into getting these things as a way to make us happy.

Funny thing is that external circumstances rarely create the feelings. (Ever notice how once you have “the thing” the feeling it gives you wears off pretty quickly and you want the next “thing”? Marketers prey on this)

It’s the starting with love and joy that then nurtures the awesomeness we find outside of ourselves. Because whether the thing comes or go— we can always choose.

Instead of window shopping for the perfect life, start designing it from within. What makes you happy? What if you didn’t care what anyone else thought– and you only chose things that felt great to you?

What would they be?

Here’s a couple of mine to get your juices started:
the perfect cup of coffee with a friend who really gets me
work that calls to me and feels like play
leisure time that stretches out before me and beckons me in to nature
the solitude of a sunrise as she gently awakens the sky
a beloved who says ” I love all of you– even the parts that you try to hide from the world”
the scratchy, warm tongue of my fur-baby as he greets me with eager anticipation and love every time I leave and return
floating in the water — feeling like the hands of the universe are holding me in her arms

Share some of yours below — I love collaborative creativity!