The secret to finding happiness is to first understand what happiness is. It is not the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is more to do with your state of mind, rather than your situation. Your ability to focus on the positive, no matter how small, in spite of the negative. Remember, you can only think one thought at a time.
The happiest people in the world surround themselves with family and friends, don’t care about keeping up with the Joneses next door and lose themselves in daily activities. This is the truth of Vanuatu, with a low ecological footprint, voted the Happiest Country on Earth, in 2006. A South Pacific tropical island nation where the GNP was rated 207, out of the 233 countries around the world. Money, or lack of, is not the key to happiness. Neither can happiness be bought.
Martin. E.P. Seligman, Pennsylvania psychologist says, “The happiest people judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do, or have.”
Others claim the happiest people are the ones who forgive easily. Psychologists now say gratitude has a lot to do with life satisfaction and a feeling of well being.
Western society commonly perceives happiness as the outcome of what you achieve and what you acquire. These people live by the ‘If only…’ syndrome. Most people agree that you can have everything in the world and still be miserable. Or you can have relatively little and feel unbounded joy.
Another perspective of happiness was quoted by a young man in danger of losing his eyesight. “An eyeball is worth at least five million dollars. You have two of them? You’re rich. If you really appreciate your eyesight, then the other miseries are nothing. Yet if you take it all for granted, then nothing in life will ever truly give you joy.”
The experts agree it is possible to intellectually understand how to attain happiness, yet not put it into practice, for happiness is an attitude of choice.
It is a fact that some people prefer to be comfortable and unhappy, rather than endure the discomfort of changing their habits in the search of true happiness.
For some people the key to happiness is based on being considerate to the people around them, as we unconsciously mimic those around us. Try this simple experiment. Walk into a roomful of people with a smile on your face. Half an hour later walk into the same room with a frown on your face. Watch the instant reaction of those around you.
It is now widely accepted in the scientific community that happiness is becoming more scientific and a field of vital exploration. Though one researcher states: “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness,” American social philosopher, Eric Hoffer.
Perhaps happiness in January 2009, is not having lost a fortune on the stock market in 2008.
Here are a few quick tips that may assist you in your quest for happiness:
- Realize bad times are an inevitable part of the life cycle
- Rationalize and adjust to the low times as quickly as possible
- Visualize current and future events in isolation
- Trust in your own resilience – you can always go a lot further than you think you can
- Always remember tomorrow is new day. A chance for a new beginning.
A simple formula to happiness is to sit down with your spouse, partner, or roommate every evening and discuss one pleasure that each of you had during the day. If you are a family, incorporate this into your family routine so that your children also learn to appreciate their daily pleasures.
Life is full of those once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunities, that can make or break you. Success it not happiness, but failure to try, leads to a life full of regrets.
Here’s wishing you all the happiness you can find in 2009.
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