A few years ago, I met an old friend. To my question “how do you feel”, she replied “excellent”.
Her answer hit me. It was not just “good” or “ok”. “Excellent”, she said.
She was smiling, saying,” yes, I am happy”. What has happened” I asked, she said, “I have decided to be happy”.

Her answer made me think. What does it mean to decide to be happy? Satisfied? Contented?
Knowing that I need to do a constant internal work, stroke me.
Being in a state of misery, anger and frustration, takes energy.
However, being in a state of happiness, content and joy also takes energy. So, if I need to work on my feelings, I’d rather work on being in a state happiness.

During my life I have heard teachers, mentors, spiritual guides. They were all speaking on the ways to achieve happiness. How you achieve your dreams. How you bring prosperity to your life. What they didn’t teach is what happens when your dreams are coming true. What happens when you reach THE moment of success, according to your definition of success?
When something goes wrong in my life, I can understand it. I can understand that there are times when it’s ok to be sad, or frustrated, why I need the time now to search what IS working. To be present in these challenging moments, to check what will support me.

For many years I thought that I need to work extremely hard to achieve a dream, any dream, in any field. I thought that on a spiritual level, I have to prepare myself, then the dream will come true and everything will be simple. I thought that this moment of achievement lies only on the emotional sphere.
But, even in a moment of success and fulfilling I am going through a range of feelings.
So what is happening to me? What is happening to me even when dreams are fulfilled?
I came to understanding that though fulfilling a dream demands a lot of work, so does moments of success and achievements.

Each stage demands a different work, and during moments of success a constant inner work needs to get on going.
What we have here is a continuous work about growth, about the capability to contain love when it comes, to feel good, to feel successful, to feel at ease with the new feeling that enters our life.

So this period in my life is a period of fulfilling dreams, of prosperity and at the same time a period of the knowledge that this time also requires being in an inner continuous work, in listening to voices, in feeling what is actually happening to me and what is possible for me at this specific moment.
Now, the list of fulfilled dreams is long.
When prosperity arrives, it arrives in strong flows.
Just this month:
I opened a course of training healing dance to teachers and therapists.
I participated in a week of workshops, creations and performances with a group of Jewish-Arab youth in an important dance center in France.
We adopted a dog! After years of wanting a dog, I have a dog.
My son celebrates 9 years.
This month I will be giving a lecture in TED.

For me, containing good, demands work. And if work is needed, let it be for the good.
As my friend was saying, being happy is about making decision; it’s about doing and seeing the good. .

.