Happiness is defined as the state of mind or feeling characterized by love. It is safe to say then that unhappiness is the opposite feeling of love, which is fear. Our thoughts, our words and our actions are all rooted in either love or fear. Anger, jealousy, impatience, frustration, prejudice are all manifestations of fear, while kindness, courage, patience, forgiveness and compassion are all manifestations of love. Each and every moment, we are either loving or fearing.

Spotting happy people is pretty easy to do. Everything about them, their facial gestures, how they move, how they speak and how they interact with others indicates happiness. And it's so contagious; you can't help but feel good when you're around happy people! Unfortunately, this holds true for unhappy people too. When we're around unhappy people, we also feel it. We feel tired and drained of our energies.

Imagine you have an "energy-meter" and when you experience feelings of love, your energy-meter rises and when you experience feelings of fear, it drops. Now imagine, you carry this energy-meter wherever you go, it's strapped to you at all times. Does your energy-meter rise or fall when you hang out with certain friends? Does it rise or fall when you eat certain foods? Does it rise or fall when you are at your job? Bringing awareness to each and every moment helps us discover when our energies are rising and falling and ultimately, helps us move closer to being completely fulfilled in our lives.

We are always in the driver's seat and can change the direction of our lives at any time. If we find that our energies are low, bringing light to the situation can help us turn our situation around, but we must be present to what's happening. Meditation or moving meditation practices like yoga, tai chi and qigong help us be in the present moment and cultivate awareness with our thoughts, words and actions.

Happy times come when we are not stressing about the future or the past, it's when we're fully awake to what's happening right now. Happiness is only something that can be experienced in the now. Fear on the other hand, is a fixation on the likelihood of bad outcomes; consequently, fear cannot exist if the mind is completely focused on the present moment. Fear is anticipating the worst.

As you start your new year, know that happiness can be found right now as you read these very words. By moving towards our heart's desires, and living in the now, we can lift our spirits and find true happiness. Know what makes you happy, you owe it to yourself.

Michelle Uy is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Owner of LoveActionYoga. She is Co-Creator of the Eat Well Feel Well Program, a yoga and nutrition program, and she is also certified to teach Yoga Thrive, a therapeutic yoga program for cancer survivors.