Happiness is the Way

The holidays are now behind us, and we're looking to make 2025 our best year yet. We've set goals, mapped out our vision boards, and filled our journals with healthy intentions. But what does this all mean for where we are now?

While only six pages into the book The Gap and the Gain, it's easy to see how New Year's resolutions can lead to more harm than good. Intentions and resolutions are great, but it is also essential to find happiness in the present moment.

We set intentions for the new year in hopes of reaching happiness once we've reached our goals, but The Gap and the Gain and Thich Nhat Hanh remind us that we should find happiness where we are now instead of setting it somewhere in the future. Even though setting intentions and goals is a great way to better ourselves and aim to be the best version of ourselves, it also comes with the feeling that the version we are now is not good enough. That where, who, and what we are now is not good enough. And with that comes the feeling that we cannot be happy until we have reached that goal or intention.

This is not an analysis or summary of a book but simply an observation of how we use New Year's goals to place our happiness in the future and how adjusting our thinking can benefit our current happiness. So, as we make our New Year's resolutions and check in periodically, let's also list what makes us happy now. Let's place our happiness on where we are, who we are, and what we have right now because we deserve to be happy in this moment. It is possible to both be happy with where you are now and excited about where you want to go and what you want to achieve.

WellAmi wishes you a happy, healthy, and fulfilling New Year, and remember, while you aspire for your future, to appreciate your present.