Happy 2.0

At some point after the loss of a spouse, many people find themselves thinking about happiness. What does it mean now? Can I permission myself to feel it? And if I could give myself permission, is it possible to actually feel happy again?

There was a time that I wholeheartedly believed that happiness was no longer available to me. But I was wrong.

In his book The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran writes, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

To the degree we can set down extra suffering and feel the pain of loss, we expand our capacity to feel comfortable emotions too, like joy and happiness.

To be clear, it’s a different version of happiness. In many ways it’s deeper than I knew before, because of the deep caverns of my being. I’m also more fully present to experience it, because I know firsthand how life is fragile and time is precious.

The happiness I know now is not the same happiness that my late husband and I enjoyed. After all, he has passed and I’m no longer that version of me. His death changed us both. The happiness we enjoyed is precious to me. I remember it and I honor it.

The happiness I feel today is different, and that’s okay. It’s neither inferior nor superior. It’s an altogether different variety. I think of it as happiness 2.0, and that’s my wish for you.

Don’t try to duplicate the happiness you once knew. Be open to discovering a different version. Because you’re a different you.

While life can be brutal, it can also be beautiful. My wish for you is happiness 2.0.

But if right now it feels impossible, I understand. This is what we do inside of Life Reconstructed, my coaching program exclusively for widowed people. Simply click below to learn more.