How do you find true happiness? We doubt there existed a person who never asked themselves or other people that at a given point in their life. Is love the secret? Is it living healthy? Is it living in the moment? It’s even hard to define true happiness, much less discover it. The truth is that it’s different for different people. To some, happiness is having a sense of belonging. To others, it is the ability to experience real love. Still others feel happiness is having close people to share your innermost thoughts and beliefs with and to connect to.
Maybe none of this is news to you. What might come as a surprise, however, is that many people live their life in ways that are robbing them of happiness. This article will discuss 7 habits that can – or are – robbing you of it.
1. Making Unfavorable Comparisons
In the immortal words of President Theodore Roosevelt, “comparison is the thief of joy.” Sad, but true. When you become envious of someone’s income, job, appearance, or anything else, comparing yourself to them will only bring you misery. Albeit a natural one, our tendency to compare ourselves can be harmful. Remind yourself of how much you have achieved to make yourself feel happier.
2. Letting Anxiety Take Over
Anxiety is frequently a by-product of hanging onto a thing that has brought you pain and regret. It could be related or stem from a difficult time in your life. Try to let it go. You can’t do anything about it. You have a future to enjoy and a present to live in, but not a past to relive, hoping for a different outcome. Rid yourself of the anxiety, worry, and uncertainty about your life. It’s not only meaningless, but often harmful. Instead, think about your dreams and live your life the way you want. True happiness awaits.
3. Taking Yourself Too Seriously
The mental faculty of humankind is what has made humans the dominant species, but certainly not the happiest one. Our advanced thought processes bring us amazing productivity, problem solving skills, and the capacity to cope with the challenges life throws our way. However, we are cursed with the tendency to overthink things, which can result in negative thoughts that we not only replay in our mind, but also share with other people – to their chagrin.
Never forget that you are not your thoughts. Negative thoughts are misleading and unreliable. Thoughts like “I’m not smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough etc.” do nothing for your mind. You are who you’re supposed to be, which is a person capable of amazing things.
4. Not Being Aware of your True Essence
Most people are not aware of their true essence.They live their lives embroiled in their emotions and thoughts. They feel that their emotions and thoughts are their true selves. However, thoughts and emotions are quite transient, like a cloud drifting across the sky of a beautiful mind. Unhappiness comes from putting the clouds in place of the sky – the true, open expanse that is the mind.
5. Your Job isn’t Fulfilling
Your job should give you a sense of fulfillment, if not true happiness. Westerners in particular have been taught that work isn’t supposed to be exciting. But it should be fulfilling, at least to some extent. In a recent survey by Gallup, we read that Americans are the most disengaged employees in the world! Working a job that doesn’t give you access to anything positive aside from (maybe) a good salary will almost certainly bring about misery and discontent.
6. You Don’t Give Enough
I can practically hear you thinking, “What can I give except misery?” Well, you get what you give. It’s that simple. If we share joy, we get joy in return. If we share sadness, we get that right back. When we give from a place of love and expect nothing back, we are fulfilled and nourished as much as the people who received our gifts. All it takes is a helping hand, a word of support, or even a friendly greeting. Every moment we spend giving is remembered and appreciated by those around us.
7. Believing Pleasure is the Same as Happiness
According to Dr. Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, there are three kinds of happiness people can experience. The first kind is derived from having an engaging life. The second is when you have a meaningful life. You sense meaning in the things you do and the relationships you foster. Finally, there are those people who have pleasant lives. This type of happiness is contingent upon the pursuit of pleasure. Dr. Seligman has found that the pursuit of pleasure does not offer lasting fulfillment in and of itself. One should pursue a life of meaning and engagement as well. Frequent pursuit of short-lived pleasures like delicious food, alcohol, sex, and drugs can make you feel like your life is empty.
The truest form of happiness is when you know what your biggest strengths are and use them to serve the greater good. Every time you can do this is a time to be cherished and proud of.
What are the 5 keys to true happiness?
Happiness – one of the few positive human emotions – can be hard to come by, and is a highly coveted sensation and state of mind for everyone, so if you’re thinking, “That’s me exactly”, what you need are some true happiness quotes to improve your mood. These happiness quotes are great at times of trouble, when it seems like the sun has hidden behind the clouds forever. They will also illustrate some keys to happiness you should know about.
They say happiness is a choice, and they’re absolutely right. The best quotes about happiness and love are those that convince you, rarely in more than a dozen words, of how true and applicable to so many life situations they are. The happiness quotes in this article may make you realize that you are, in fact, happier than you think, and make you appreciate what you have more. You might also begin to care less about what you don’t have and even come to accept it.
Happiness is the ability to feel love toward a person even when they act egotistically, unreasonably, and illogically. It is “doing good unto others” even if they accuse you of ulterior motives. No happiness awaits an undisciplined mind.
1. Delight.
Delighting in little everyday things is an important key to happiness. When we’re away on vacation in another town, we can be in awe of something as trivial as a local park or cafe. Do you realize a park in your area can seem just as fascinating to a foreign traveler who’s on holiday there? Be in awe of even the smallest things in your life. “You won’t find happiness if you can’t risk opening up.”
Happiness is easier to come by than you think. “As people race to find true happiness, the futile effort of pursuing it wears them out.”
2. Self-love.
“How to win the fight for true happiness? Start by learning to value yourself.” The relationship you have with yourself is the most important one you will ever have in your life. It’s a shame that so many of us are so self-critical. Treat yourself as you would a loved one or a best friend – with love, acceptance, and compassion. Buddha said, “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire Universe, deserve your love and affection.”
3. Acceptance.
“True happiness is being able to go without some of the things you desire.”
The intensity of our sorrow depends on the extent, to which we’re able to resist the present moment. When you accept life as it is, you instantly release energy to make positive changes while also obtaining a sense of inner peace.
4. Being Positive
Most of the time, negative expectations about the future are no more warranted or logical than positive ones. Actually, life experience has shown that ultimately, most things work out. You need to develop a mindset based on trust, optimism, and positive expectations. The following quotes will help you.
“Happiness comes from overcoming challenges, not from doing easy work. Only a challenge that demanded our best can truly secure that afterglow.”
I don’t remember where I read this, but it struck a chord. If it was easy, we wouldn’t appreciate it, would we?
“People choose to be happy or unhappy. It’s your choice whether you let negativity affect you.”
We have no control over circumstances, but we can control our reactions to them. Your thoughts determine whether you’ll be happy or not. Protect yourself from worrying, irrational, or unreasonable thoughts. Do not entertain such notions and your happiness will not cease. Happiness is governed by our attitude, not outside forces.
5. Balance.
We read in ancient philosophical texts that there is a time for everything – a time to act and a time to rest. Alternate action with rest to bring balance into your life. Reflect on whether you have found fulfillment in your career, self-growth, health, finances, learning, and leisure.
Final Thoughts
In your quest for happiness, follow your heart and trust your intuition. Your intuition is what you know without realizing it. Always follow your heart and stand up for what you believe in. If that’s not the road to happiness, I don’t know what is. Live each day with a purpose. Don’t forget that there is one master key to the door to happiness, and that is love. True happiness comes from loving and giving. Love is what we are all looking for. Love did not make anyone a bad person. The key to success is happiness, not vice versa. Loving what you do guarantees your success.
