Life is a series of transitions. It skips a beat sometimes. Whenever we have a legal holiday on a Monday, I spend all day Tuesday, thinking it’s Monday. Today, is such a day.
When we’re going through transitions, our routine has hiccups. My decision to create HappinessNoir.com was a call to balance out the light life but, it’s also a return to my roots in the whole of psychology.
The positive psychology movement had pure intentions to help us balance out the abundant focus on what was wrong with humanity. When Seligman boldly challenged the field in the late 90’s to also remember to focus on what was right, there was an industry wide stir that seemed, a bit dramatic.
The Beat Goes On
All transitions have a heart beat. Since our specialty within the field took an interesting twist toward consumerism along with social media famous practitioners, we’ve been off kilter.
Finding the healthy good news as a professional focus became a tag line for many people. As new generations of practitioners began to generate new approaches to delivering content, we witnessed the monopolization of the field.
Life is skipping ahead
2020 felt like a demand that we change and change now. People made abrupt changes. We jumped on definitive band wagons or, we took the leap of faith, digging in to what brought us the most joy.
We as a collective, have seen major disruption in our daily routines. Millions of people had to say goodbye to their loved ones. Millions more, like myself, have made professional transitions that were disruptive to our lives. I myself have deconstructed my entire professional life. It’s the same, but it’s also totally different.
Change is hard. We can embrace the hard as a call to love.
While many people are supportive of everyone in the field, bringing light and love to those who wish to shine, there is always going to be a dark side. We have people who are opportunists, greedy with the need to shine brighter and those who simply believe they are more important than others.
Not all that shines is gold. There are some blaring red flags right now. They boast loudly about their 7-figure salaries and how they are the brightest stars in the sky. Others see them for who they really are.
Humans have flaws. So do professions. Nobody is perfect.
Learning about ourselves means learning about what we love even in tough times. During transitions, it’s been helpful to turn the world off. Staying focused on what matters most to us in our career, helps us to skip over the hard transitions.
We care about our jobs because they are significant to our lives. When others in our field diminish the value of what we’re doing, we all feel it. We all live with the transition. It’s up to all of us to cultivate a consistency that is true, honest and authentic.
In the meantime ~ transitions can feel like a skip in the heartbeat of our lives ~ professionally and personally.
Author: K. Aren Henry has a masters in community psychology and an advanced graduate certificate in mental health counseling. The Light Life is part of her “happiness noir” series, copyright 2021 © She’s a private practitioner and researcher in the United States. Henry Healing dot com is her calling card.