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Growing Happiness: Lessons from Pain, Peace, and Practice
How to cultivate happiness daily through mindset and six proven habits.
When Mahatma Gandhi said, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way,” he was pointing to something profound. Through painful experience, I’ve found the same to be true for happiness. There is no road to happiness — you must carry the seed of it within you, so it can grow when the opportunity arises.
Finding Calm in Chaos
As a child, I was told in many ways that I was unwanted. I was abused — physically and verbally — and felt scared and small. My escape was climbing trees. High above the world, surrounded by leaves and sky, I found a quiet safety. That calmness led me to a soft inner knowing: I could carry that feeling with me wherever I went.
That inner safety — an awareness that I would be fine regardless of what was happening around me — kept me sane. It became an anchor in the storm, a tiny light of equanimity that could bloom into happiness even during hard times.
Seeing from a Wider Lens
It’s not easy. When you’re sad, frightened, or hurting, the idea of being happy can feel impossible. I understand — I lived that way for years. But when you zoom out from the…
