According to the Mental Health Foundation one in four people experiences some kind of psychological illness in the course of a year and those are the ones that are diagnosed. I am shocked as that is insanely high. The statistics have become significantly worse in recent years. I studied psychology A-level and if I remember rightly then, it was only one in ten during their entire lives.
Is social media responsible for a decrease in personal happiness?
What has happened in the last 15 years to make us feel so lost? Where had this epidemic sprung from? Why is sadness ubiquitous? What has happened to personal happiness?
There is speculation around social media, is it connecting or indeed disconnecting us? Do we feel more loved with three-thousand on-line friends or is that isolating? People often have ‘on-line personalities’ showing the world what they want them to see, cherry picking, the ‘best’ parts. That creates separation in the sense that we have to show this shiny happy-go-lucky aspect for people to like us. It’s as if we don’t feel we can be loved deeply if we expose the whole. This doesn’’t happen in ‘real-world’ relationships, buddies see us warts and all, and accept us (hopefully) if we are genuine, that feels much more fulfilling and that makes up happy.
Online relationships based on dishonesty lead to unhappiness.
Sadly not everyone is comfortable being themselves. I am moderalty addicted to the show ‘Catfish’ where two lads Nieve and Max tour America sussing out if online relationships are factious? People become friends in chat rooms they form deep bonds to the point of saying “I love you” and talk of marriage having never met in person or even video chatted. Sometimes these relationships have spanned years with fake profiles and photos. Mostly the people are very sweet, but don’t feel comfortable in their skin often due to weight issues. Their hearts are pure but they don’t think they can be loved for themselves due to their appearance.
The narcissistic culture of selfies seeking approval in the form of likes, likes for what? Our clothes, location, beauty it’s somewhat shallow. Don’t get me wrong I’m in no position to judge I’m guilty of it too. In fact, to sell my wears I am positively encouraged to share my life on every social media platform.
Happiness is found by sharing kindness
There is so much potential in each and every one of us, it is time to start switching that on. We are living at a mere fraction of what it is to be human, our capacity for love and compassion is beyond measure. Many of us are simply stuck in fear, it’s time for change, it’s time for our inner Christ Consciousness to emerge. Daily spiritual practice helps deeply, in Divine Empowerment we work tirelessly to activate the human energy system to personally evolve, to shift us all. The work makes us happier, ‘Seva’ leads to happiness and bliss. We are all one so when you help another you are in-fact helping yourself, its fulfilling, it’s joyful.
We, each and every one of us can make the world more loving, a great start is random acts of kindness, they are easy to do and can mean the world to people. We need to get to a place where we see an opportunity to help and then take it. Most of us are so preoccupied and busy with our own lives we rarely see what’s right in front of us. I was a brownie (girl-scout) as a child, one of the principles was to ‘do a good deed everyday’. We need to go back to this, how much happier would the human race be if we all did this? Random easy things to start, like helping little old ladies across the road, or assisting a stranger with luggage down stairs, moving seat on the bus to allow friends to sit together. It doesn’t have to cost us anything. Spending a few minutes talking to a homeless person, can really make their day, if we can buy them a sandwich and a drink all the better. Being kind is good for the soul and leads to happiness, it is much more fulfilling than a pair posh of shoes. Look for beauty in the world, it is everywhere. I find deep joy in having a child-like innocence and excitement in life that is Divine Connection. The more we connect and help each other the happier we will all be, I promise!
Thanks for reading. For more info check out www.divineempowerment.co.uk.
Be well, be happy,
Antonia