{"id":8870,"date":"2023-07-06T14:02:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=8870"},"modified":"2023-07-06T14:02:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:02:57","slug":"mental-health-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/06\/mental-health-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health & Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bernadette Joy Graham,
MA, LPC, NCC,
Licensed Mental Health Therapist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Mental Health Moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Bernadette Joy Graham, MA, LPCC, CCHt, Licensed Mental Health Therapist
\n<\/em><\/strong>The Truth Contributor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We all want to be happy.\u00a0 I am rather confident that no one has ever communicated to me that they just want to be sad.\u00a0 Listening to a child\u2019s laughter or watching them at play having a great time often brings a smile to our faces because it takes us back to when we were children.\u00a0 We remembered how it felt to laugh and play and smile, maybe even secretly wishing we could go back to those times.<\/p>\n

In a recent online article titled \u201cWhat is Happiness, defining happiness and how to be happier,\u201d<\/strong> breaks down happiness for us adults, some of whom have forgotten how to smile, laugh or just have a good time in an adult manner.\u00a0 We have become consumed with bills to pay, toxic relationships, employment and many other things that fall under adulting that as a child we did not have to consider let alone know about.<\/p>\n

I receive many calls to my offices or hear a client say in session \u201cI just want to be happy.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Happiness is not a place or a thing. To the contrary, some individuals seem to have just been born happy.\u00a0 Nothing gets them down; they always have positive conversation and it feels good to spend time around them.<\/p>\n

An article about happiness which you may find at https:\/\/www.verywellmind.com\/what-is-happiness-4869755<\/em><\/strong><\/a> begins by defining happiness.\u00a0 Many times, just not knowing the definition of happiness is our first mistake.\u00a0 We say we want to be happy but we don\u2019t know truly what that entails.<\/p>\n

Some will say, when I get married, I will be happy, when I get that new car, I will be happy, when I graduate,<\/em> I will be happy or even, when I get divorced, I will be happy<\/em>.\u00a0 While those situations and things are subject to provide us a level happiness, regretfully that happy feeling does not last forever.\u00a0 There will always be things, people, experiences, and more that we will always want to fill that happiness void.<\/p>\n

Happiness is simply our outlook on life and how we roll with what we have.\u00a0 I always thought I would be happy if I had a mother but then I saw others who had a mother and they did not seem to be happy as I thought, they complained, they distanced themselves some even put their own mothers down.<\/p>\n

As the article proceeds, it defines the two categories of happiness, types of happiness and how to cultivate happiness. Some of the things to cultivate happiness in your life such as reframe negative thoughts for example if you are always thinking that you won\u2019t get the job for which you hope, reframe that to I will get the job that I want or one comparable or better.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Also, enjoy the moment, we don\u2019t always get to see friends and family except during holidays, weddings or funerals.\u00a0 This is a holiday month, even better it is a summer holiday, 4th<\/sup> of July when most gather with great food, some travel long distances just to visit, while the moment won\u2019t last forever, enjoy the time we have because the next event may be a funeral and those are not happy moments.<\/p>\n

The article ends with the importance of happiness and that is where mental health meets this feeling.\u00a0 Over my 20 plus years of a career in counseling, most confuse unhappiness or sadness with depression.\u00a0 Depression is a diagnosable mental health disorder while sadness and unhappiness are not. \u00a0They may play a role in the symptoms of criteria for depression if one concludes they have been unhappy their whole lives and have tried everything to improve their happiness but a misdiagnosis can cause grave damage.<\/p>\n

Take a mental health moment and reflect upon the current state of your overall happiness in your life.\u00a0 If you have the opportunity to read the article you will gain much insight, it will help to answer many questions you may have about happiness and provide you ways to increase the happiness already in your life.\u00a0 Of course, if you feel you have read and done everything you can and still do not see any happiness on the horizon, please do not hesitate to make a visit to a mental health provider.<\/p>\n

Happiness is not a 24\/7 space we spend our life.\u00a0 It comes and goes and we do have more control over our happiness \u00a0than we think. One technique is to think about your own childhood when you had no responsibilities like a mortgage, or car payments, insurance. Going back to happy memories will always bring some feelings of happiness.\u00a0 Life can be harsh, whenever you can enjoy just five minutes of real happiness don\u2019t pass it up.\u00a0 Happy 4th<\/sup> of July to all my readers and especially to my fellow veterans.<\/p>\n

Bernadette Graham is a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist. She is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. Provide feedback or reach out at graham.bernadette@gmail.com\u00a0 For appointment information please call 419.409.4929 \u00a0Available for team building, employee empowerment in motivation and better understanding mental health in the work place.\u00a0 Accepting new clients ages 13 and older.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Mental Health Moment By Bernadette Joy Graham, MA, LPCC, CCHt, Licensed Mental Health Therapist The Truth Contributor We all want to be happy.\u00a0 I am rather confident that no one has ever communicated to me that they just want to be sad.\u00a0 Listening to a child\u2019s laughter or watching them at play having a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[182],"class_list":["post-8870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8871,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8870\/revisions\/8871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8870"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}