We had a movie groupingg--Pursuit of Happiness.
If you have dreams, stand by it. Fight for it. Don't let anyone bring you down.
So I was thinking.
How are I doing in my pursuit of happiness? Are I happy? What are the secrets of my happiness?
According to Dr. Fordyce, Happiness has to be the single most sought after thing in the world. After all, what worth would all the success, fame, fortune, and love in the world have, if it didn’t make you happy?
So, can we define “happiness”?
And what is your definition of happiness? It can be serious or humorous.
For me, it is simply “a pleasant routine with always something to look forward to.”
The keyword is “pleasant”, which encompasses having freedom, a family, hobby interests and meaningful career. One of my less serious analogies would be “watching a romantic and touching movie from the comfort of my home while I still have electricity.”
Happiness is not merely a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. On the contrary, happiness is a long lasting enduring enjoyment of life, it is being in love with living. It is your reward for achieving a good character and personal rational values in life such as a productive career, romance, friendship and hobbies.
More important than defining happiness is understanding what makes us happy. There are many unhappy people in the world. In just this country 12 miliion families last year worried that they couldn’t afford to buy food. Unhappiness according to modern psychology, is the basis of all social evils. Unhappy people commit unhappy acts; either on themselves or others. So at least one good reason to understand happiness would be to help formulate social policy.
There are many factors that contribute to happiness; I want to talk about 3 major ones: attitude, money, health, and many more etc.
Attitude is essential to happiness. To quote Abe Lincoln, “most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Indeed psychologists and philosophers agree that happiness is primarily a state of mind or mental attitude. In other words just deciding to be a happy person contributes to your overall happiness.
Richard Carlson you might remember him as the author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, also wrote You Can Be Happy No Matter What. He argues that your feelings (positive or negative) are preceded by your thinking. In other words first the thought, then the feeling. The good news is you are only one thought away from a good feeling. He also urges us to live in the present moment. Carlson contends that “Happy people understand that life is really nothing more than a series of present moments to experience, one after another.” And they understand “...that right now, this very moment, is where life is truly lived.”
How about money? Can you buy happiness? Some people think they would be much happier, if they had some extreme good fortune --like winning a million dollars in a lottery. There are reports of just the opposite happening and lottery winners live in misery. At least one major study indicated that lottery winners took less pleasure in the everyday, worldly pleasure of life. After a major positive change in their lives, the simpler pleasures took on less meaning to them.
But studies do show a fairly strong relationship between happiness and income. It is not so much that wealth creates happiness --it’s that poverty robs it. If you are well off you may or may not be happy,but if you’re poor, it’s almost a guarantee you’re unhappy. When it comes to money, the stress is on an “adequate” income--enough to meet one’s basic needs.
What about your health? Sound minds reside in sound bodies. Yoga exercise not only promotes health and energy, it also is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety.
Thus, I felt that the above factors are much more important. Attitude will lead to Actions, and Actions Lead to Results which consists of monetary terms and physical terms.
Lets treasure whatever that we have now. And not to regret it only later.