Mel Carlile is Managing Director of Mind Body Spirit Festival
What is happiness for you?
For me Happiness is a feeling, a moment in time to be embraced, renewed, treasured, enhanced and refreshed at will. I’d love to be poetic, fluffy and say “Its a flower blooming” or “it’s the stroke of my lovers hand” but in my experience Happiness is an inside job and not reliant on other people, money, environment, or stuff.
But, I DO believe that we can invest in and enhance our states of happiness.
Am I a happy person? Hell Yeah!
Am i Happier with the sun on my body and sand between my toes? Absolutely!
Am I Happier if I’m in the grace of Service? Dayum Sure!
Am I happier surrounded by family and loved ones? Totally
But these things don’t make me happy per se, they boost my levels of happiness.
How did you come to your current level of positivity and what did you have to overcome to achieve it?
Great question! My start was not the best emotionally but I have somehow self-fixed, and in my 20’s developed happiness as my default mode and that internal setting has sustained me to the present day. The journey has not been easy and life has broken me a few times but, I would always reset, reboot and bounce back full of energy,hope,drive and a smile.
You have a busy life and a business to run, which no doubt brings stress. How do you cope?
Delegation and empowering individuals in the workplace is key. I don’t micromanage team MBS (Mind Body Spirit), I like to embrace the practice of a Servent Leadership model of management. I want my team to be fabulous and to be the best version of themselves. How do I cope with stress? That’s an easy one. I don’t have any stress anymore. I used to… But now I’m older and wiser. Here are some simple observations from my own experiences:
1.I don’t view it as stress, just situations in need of solutions.
2.Through Vipassana meditation I have learnt to reprogramme my mind to process the drama out of situations.
Do you think it matters where you live, to feel happy?
I believe there are different levels of happiness dictated by the environment/circumstances we live in. If I lived in a war torn county would i be smiley happy? Do you think the people of Alepo are happy?When all around you is hopelessness and oppression can you still be happy…I don’t think I can answer that question as it’s not within my realm of experience, but I think we could all hazard a guess as to how happy that situation would make us feel. A long, long time ago I lived outside of happiness but since I moved into happiness I can’t recall how it is to live any other way.
Share your favourite Happy thought
Rather than sharing a happy thought I’d rather that I share happy deeds…Love with all your Heart, Give with all Heart and Dance like no one’s looking. If that all sounds a bit hippie then shoot me, I guess I must be a hippie!
http://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/