Feeling the Feels of Happiness (even when you know its temporary)
- Suzanne
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
I want to remind you of something simple, and maybe a little radical, especially if you’ve learned to brace yourself against good moments. You are allowed to enjoy happiness even when you know it won’t last. You don’t need certainty, guarantees, or proof that things will stay this way in order to let yourself feel what’s here now. Happiness doesn’t ask for permanence in exchange for permission; it only asks for your presence.
Somewhere along the way, many of us learned to treat happiness like something fragile or suspicious, as if it needs to be handled carefully or kept at a distance. We tell ourselves not to get too excited, not to lean in too much, not to believe in it fully, because experience has taught us that life changes and nothing stays the same. Often this isn’t pessimism so much as self-protection, a quiet belief that if we don’t fully let ourselves feel joy, it won’t hurt as much when it fades.
But the truth is that holding back happiness doesn’t actually protect us from pain. It simply dulls the moments that are already trying to reach us. When we refuse to let ourselves feel the good because it might not last, we end up living half-present in our own lives, watching moments pass by without ever fully arriving inside them.
Happiness was never meant to be a permanent state, and it was never meant to carry the burden of lasting forever. It’s not a destination that you reach and settle into, and it’s not a reward for finally getting everything right. Happiness is an experience that moves through you, sometimes quietly and sometimes unexpectedly, and often for reasons that don’t make logical sense. Its impermanence doesn’t make it shallow or unreliable; it makes it real.
We don’t dismiss a sunset because it ends, and we don’t rush through a meaningful conversation just because it won’t last forever. We don’t refuse connection or tenderness because it might change shape one day. And yet, with happiness, we often ask it to prove its longevity before we allow ourselves to feel it fully, as if joy must justify itself by staying.
There’s also a deeper layer many of us carry, the belief that happiness must be earned, timed correctly, or allowed only once everything else feels settled. We tell ourselves that we’ll relax once life calms down, that we’ll enjoy things more when the uncertainty lifts, or that feeling happy now somehow invalidates the parts of our lives that still feel tender, complicated, or unresolved. But happiness doesn’t arrive once your life is neat and complete; sometimes it arrives right in the middle of the mess, asking only that you don’t push it away.
Feeling happiness doesn’t mean you’re ignoring your struggles or pretending everything is fine. It doesn’t mean you’re tempting fate or being naïve about how quickly things can change. It simply means you’re allowing yourself to experience what’s true in this moment, alongside everything else that may also be true. Joy and difficulty are not opposites; they often exist in the same breath.
Happiness also doesn’t need to be loud, dramatic, or life-altering to matter. It doesn’t have to look like constant excitement or uninterrupted ease. Sometimes it’s a quiet sense of okayness, a soft moment of relief, a laugh that surprises you, or a brief feeling of peace that settles in without explanation. You don’t have to stretch these moments into something bigger or ask them to last longer than they want to. You can simply let them be what they are.
So this is my gentle invitation to you, offered without pressure or expectation. The next time happiness shows up, even briefly, see if you can resist the urge to analyse it, minimise it, or push it away. Notice what happens if you let yourself stay with it, even while knowing it may pass. Let yourself say yes to the moment without asking it to promise anything in return.
Even when happiness fades, it doesn’t disappear without leaving anything behind. The moments you allow yourself to feel fully soften something inside you, remind you what’s possible, and quietly reinforce your capacity to recognise joy again when it returns. Sometimes the most meaningful thing you can do is let yourself feel good while you can, trusting that this, too, is part of being alive.
Ready to go deeper into healing and intentional growth through tarot? Explore The Healing Journey, our step-by-step guided experience for transformation.
Liked this piece? Follow me for more soulful tarot reflections, healing frameworks, and tools for intuitive growth. Or visit www.the-healing-tarot.com to explore our courses and offerings.
#tarot #happiness #spiritualgrowth #tarotcommunity #loveandlight #healingtarot #joy
Comments