11 ways to choose Happiness-Happiness is a choice — The Easy Wisdom
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim of human existence.” -Aristotle
I would like to start this post with the most famous quote of legend John Lennon.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
Happiness is the sole and ultimate purpose in life. One of the greatest achievements we can attain in life is leaving this world a better place than we found it. And Happiness is the best achievement we can pass on as a legacy to mankind. We can pass on happiness only if we are happy and understand how to be happy eventually. We have to consciously choose happiness by identifying the things which make us happy and bring positivity. Alternatively, we can also be happy by departing from things that bring negativity like negative emotions, stress, anxiety, cognitive dissonance, anger, guilt to name a few. The famous quote is worth the mention:
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
-Abraham Lincoln
So the next question is “ Is happiness a conscious choice? Can we chose it over other things in life?”. Certainly yes! Many happy people realize happiness is a choice and it’s up to them to intentionally choose it every single day.
11 ways to Choose Happiness Today
Simply understanding happiness is a choice is not enough, we have to consciously work upon achieving the same every day.
Come to terms with yourself first
Happiness is an inward journey foremost. This involves being aware of your innermost feelings. Look inward, and identify your stressors, negative emotions, and stressors first. Second, process it, get to the root cause and resolve your innermost conflicts to achieve a state of balance, and restore your lost equilibrium. Third, stabilize yourself cognitively and create a space for happiness to seep in. Reflect more and be at peace with yourself first.
Count your blessings and Look at those who are not as blessed as you are
Happy people choose to focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative. They set their minds on specific reasons to be grateful. They express it when possible. And they quickly discover there is always something to be grateful for. Practice gratitude and thank God for all His blessings like access to clean water, air, home, family, work, and above all physical and mental wellbeing to name a few. Trust me, we all are blessed in all possible ways. And recognizing this will certainly impart some us with some happiness.
Always look at people who are not as blessed as you are in both material and non-material aspects. There are people struggling daily because they are physically and mentally incapacitated, people who are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, people who are financially not able to make their ends meet. Sadly, Life is unfortunate for many. Assess your blessings vis-à-vis such people and I promise you will be happier.
Pursue your passion
If you love traveling, travel more. If you love painting, paint more. If you love dancing, dance more. If you love reading, read more. There is nothing that should stop you from pursuing your passion. Find your own source of happiness even in the smallest of things. This will keep you eternally content and satisfied leading to happiness.
Do not seek happiness in people or possessions. Do not link Happiness to Money
Happy people are not held hostage by their circumstances and they do not seek happiness in people or possessions. Possessions are temporary and so are people in life except a few like parents, partner/spouse, some close friends, and positive engagements. Seek happiness from within by engaging in work & practices which give you peace. Can money buy happiness? Although money is an important parameter for societies’ prosperity and people’s wellbeing which may lead to happiness to some extent, in long term Money is rendered useless in increasing the happiness quotient after a point. This is called “Easterlin Paradox”, which is claims happiness does not rise with income beyond a certain point. Chances are you see more money now than you ever have in your life, yet you’re still trapped in the paradox, struggling to understand why you’re unhappy. The answer is a lot simpler than you might expect: happiness is a choice.
“While not having money makes people unhappy, you cannot buy happiness.”
Drift away from Negative Emotions
As an individual, we all are subjected to face bad experiences like hardships, grief, sadness, loss of people, material possessions, heartbreaks, health issues, and other negative emotions of a higher degree. No one is spared regardless of gender, age, mental and physical health, religion, socio-economic class, or profession. Every individual faces hardships in one form or another over their span of life. But life has to go on. We can either choose to arrest those feelings within ourselves, be depressed, and be a slave to the negative emotions and lead an unhappy life. Or we can choose to do the opposite and drift away from negative emotions, guilt, etc.
Draw Conscious Positive Emotions
We can draw positive inspiration from our surroundings, inculcate and imbibe positive emotions, work on our mental & physical wellbeing, have more positive people around us, and continuously evolve with time. We can for sure have a more fulfilling and happy state in mind.
Have an internal locus of Control
People who believe that they can control their own life (Internal Locus of Control) by enlarge have positive emotions as they believe they have more control in making easy, small changes in their lives. This up-lifts their self-worth and keeps them motivated to be masters of their own destinies. On the contrary, people who believe that their life is controlled by outside factors, which they cannot influence (External Locus of Control), tend to attribute all their actions and outcomes to fate or destiny. They tend to give up easily and displace all outcomes to external forces of nature. Such individuals pass the buck to other people or events, never accepting their shortcomings. Such people have low self-worth and low motivation and hence they tend to remain largely unhappy.
Pull your own strings
Let not others dictate the terms and decide what is best for you. That’s is simply slavery. Rather ‘pull your own strings’ and learn to say ‘no’ to things which you don’t want and pursue what you truly believe in.
Be Empathetic to People
Be empathetic to the people around us. Be considerate, kind, & try to help people by whatever means you can. This will lead to an eternal happiness which is a precursor to external happiness.
Listen to Body and keep it healthy
Health is wealth. No matter how much you try to be eternally happy, your health will dictate the final terms. So take care of your body, eat healthy meals, follow a regular fitness regime and nutrition, do meditation, sleep, and rest properly, and focus on holistic health and wellbeing. After all, our physical bodies always have an impact on our spiritual and emotional well-being.
Stop Comparing Yourself to others
No matter what we do, what we have, or how we look, it never seems good enough. We constantly compare ourselves to everyone else, what they have achieved, what they look like, forgetting our qualities, and who we actually are without realizing being unique is the greatest asset. This is the major source of extreme frustration and unhappiness. We should stop comparing our lives with others and rather focus on our strengths, keep moving ahead leading our customized life, and choose to be happy in the long run.
Originally published at https://theeasywisdom.com on April 28, 2020.
