How To Give Yourself Permission to Be Happy

Happiness is a choice.

But sometimes, it doesn’t feel like that.

More often than not, we wind up getting in our own way, blocking ourselves from feeling the vibrant, passionate joy that we all deserve. We stop ourselves from feeling like it’s ok to be fulfilled, happy, or successful..but what if it didn’t have to be that way?

What if you could simply decide to give yourself permission, and know that All Is Well With You?

This post will show you how.

Table of Contents

Why Is Giving Yourself Permission Important?

Before we can dive into how to do it, first we have to understand why getting permission from yourself to be yourself is one of the single, most important decisions you will ever make.

The fact is – most of the time – we our own worst enemy.

Even if you have no problem supporting a friend, or pumping others up, when it comes to our own goals and desires, we tend to doubt that we actually deserve them.

We tend to think that we have to “show up” for the world in a certain way, and when that belief about how we “should” feel, look, or act conflicts with our inner nature, we feel drained and beaten down.

In other words:

We doubt that it is ok to be exactly who we want to be, every moment of every day.

And, believe it or not, we all do this in different ways. So, to counteract this unconscious belief, here are 7 permission slips you need to write yourself, ASAP.

7 Personal Permission Slips To Write, Starting Today

Permission to Feel

The first step is to give yourself permission to feel.

That means giving yourself permission to be whoever it is that you want to be, without worrying about the judgments or expectations of others.

All too often, we shut ourselves off from our emotions as a form of self-defense. We are afraid that if we wear our emotions on our sleeves, the people around us will see us as vulnerable. We are afraid those emotions will advertise what we really think and feel, and we worry that we will not be accepted for those beliefs.

To do this, start with people you are already close with. Try spending time simply sitting with a partner or friend, allowing yourself to look at them and feel a sense of joy, love, companionship, or well-being, just being in the room with them. Allow that feeling to come to the forefront and practice just sitting with it.

Then, gradually, you can expand this idea out to other areas of your life, working on just becoming more genuine in expressing yourself by recognizing the true value of your emotions.

Permission to Say No

Another way our fear of social rejection surfaces is when we believe that we always have to “be on,” and accept every invitation (or every task) that is handed to us.

We worry that if we say no, we will let others down. That can be not being able to make a friend’s dinner party, or not having time to take on a new project at work.

Saying yes to everything actually does everyone a disservice. Not only do you wind up burning yourself out trying to be everyone to everybody, but you wind up letting others down because you set the expectation that you would handle it…but didn’t properly manage your time and energy to deliver.

What we often don’t realize is that when we set clear boundaries and learn to stand up for our own needs, other people tend to respect us more for that.

Permission to Let Go and Move On

Perhaps one of the biggest ways we hold ourselves back is when we refuse to let go of a past situation that is no longer serving us.

This could be reliving a bad experience from the past, or it could mean hanging on to something (a relationship, a job, etc) that you no longer feel connected to.

When it is something that is important to you, letting go can feel like you are losing a part of yourself, which is why it’s so difficult to do sometimes.

You have to reinforce that – fundamentally – All is Well With You, and you will be ok, even if you are no longer attached to that past event, person, or identity.

Read this post to learn more about how to let go.

Permission to Rest and Relax

Ultimately, permission is about self-acceptance.

One of the biggest ways we do not accept ourselves is by thinking we are not enough. For example, if we have a goal we haven’t hit yet, we think we “aren’t enough” until we hit the goal. So, we don’t let ourselves relax until we “get there.”

The problem is, when you don’t give yourself the time and space to rest and relax, you set yourself up for failure, stress, and burnout down the line.

Work on adopting the mindset that life is a marathon, not a sprint, so no matter how hard you want to push at times, you can’t live at 200% every single day.

You have to find balance.

If you struggle with this, try these tips for living a more balanced, spiritual life.

Permission to Succeed

Sometimes, we sabotage ourselves to the point that we don’t allow ourselves to succeed. While this can happen for a number of reasons, including believing that we are “not worthy” or “do not deserve” success, getting past this mental block is about teaching ourselves that it is ok to be successful.

If you struggle with this, one of the best things you can do is to work on reprogramming your subconscious mind to overcome these deep-seated beliefs.

Use affirmations and other tools to raise your energy and empower yourself with the knowledge that you can be, do, and have anything you want, and that you deserve success at any level you choose.

Permission to Fail

Another block that keeps many people from experiencing the success they deserve is the fear of failure.

Failure is one of the primary fears that keeps people from getting what they want. When we fear failure, we often do not put ourselves out there, we don’t take the right actions, or we begin to doubt ourselves and lose motivation…crippling our ability before we even begin.

Learn more about creating a growth mindset to avoid failure and achieve success.