Living happily is something that everyone is striving to achieve. We are not shackled by anything to grab happiness; instead it is totally in our own control. You can easily discover numerous ways to be happy in life if you wish to. It is just a matter whether you are willing to accept happiness and make an effort to create it. Let’s see how you can attract a gazillion of happiness into your life.
Make People Around Happy
If you wish to lead a happy life, then you definitely have to brighten up the life of others first. The existence of happiness is reciprocity among the human race. Why do I say so? The way other people treat you is always reflecting the way you treat others. For example, you may feel unhappy when you do not receive any gift from your friends during your birthday. But have you ever prepared birthday gifts for them during their birthdays? I am not trying to convey a message that you need to gain material benefits in order to achieve happiness. My ultimate point here: if you want your bliss to germinate, you need to help others to grow theirs first.
Other than that, just ponder for a while, will you feel happy when most of the people around are sad? Most likely you will not. For instance, you attend a funeral of someone. When the gloomy atmosphere is permeating the funeral, I am sure you can hardly feel delighted even though the deceased is your enemy. The cultivation of happiness is not an ‘alone’ matter. Instead, its creation depends more on a concerted effort. Hence, try to cheer up the others first, and then you will be susceptible to the joyful atmosphere. But of course this method is not applicable in a funeral.
Express Gratitude to Everything You Receive in Your Life
You may not possess the best thing in the world, but the thing you receive will eventually turn into the best thing in your life if you know how to appreciate it. You may not be living in a luxurious house, but you will always feel contented if you think your house is good enough to protect you from the rain and snow, rather than no shelter at all. You may not be having your own vehicle, but you will still feel satisfied if you think public transportation is good enough to bring you to the destination you desire. Things which are seemingly imperfect will convert into a better one if you know to think positively and demonstrate your gratitude towards them.
You may be confronting with the so-called ‘enemies’ in your life who are afflicting you so much. But if you think positively, don’t you think those people have made you stronger? Yes, you should be grateful to them, instead of ostracizing them.
Set Your Goals and Dreams
Sometimes we may be nagging about our mediocrity in life. Thus, improving ourselves is a way that we can add sparks in our mediocre life and subsequently bring happiness to us. Setting yourself some specific goals or dreams in life is one of the ways to improve yourself and embellish your life. Why do I say so? Don’t you feel happy when you attain certain achievements in life? Goals or dreams are not necessary to be enormous. They can be small but yet make you feel attainable. Sometimes having dreams that are too huge can be discouraging if you are unable to achieve it.
For example, if you are a clerk now, you can set your goal to become a secretary of a company’s director one day. If you are a technician now, you can aspire to be an engineer one day. If you are a food hawker now, don’t feel shy to forge ahead with your goal of becoming a restaurant owner in the future. Throughout the process of your endeavor, you will be feeling happy and satisfied because you have found the purpose of your life, which is steering your way into a more wonderful life. The happiness will appear spontaneously especially when you are striving for something you are passionate about. Unleash the potential that resides in you is one of the ways to be happy in life.
Beware of Every Little Victory in Your Life
Will you feel happy when you pass your examination with flying colours? Will you feel happy when somebody praises you on the delicious dishes you have prepared? We feel pleased naturally when we ‘achieve’ something in life. But can we still be cheerful even though without any notable achievement? Yes, you can! The significant point here: beware of every diminutive ‘success’ in your life. Your victories need not to be big to make you happy. If you know to detect them, you can easily be satisfied with your little achievements every day. For example, assuming you are an interior designer, accomplishing a grand design award may not be the only way to make your happiness breeds. Your happiness can come from various sources, such as a simple compliment from a client, a tiny design inspiration from your observation, a successful deal with the design material supplier, discovery of a fantastic design idea from a magazine, etc. If you treat those little elements as your little ‘achievements’ appreciatively, then you will surely become a happier person because you are immersing yourself in your self-created fulfillment each and every day.
Knowing How to Reward and Motivate Yourself
Most people like to receive gifts and rewards. It is simply because those things can make you feel contented. If you have the habit of motivating yourself with rewards, then you will receive unlimited happiness. The rewards I am referring can be as simple as watching your favourite TV show, pampering yourself in the spa, going out to have coffee with your friends, etc. Of course, those rewards must come with your completed tasks. For instance, you can reward yourself with a delicious meal in a restaurant after completing your work assignment. You can also reward yourself by savouring a cup of coffee that you like after sweeping the floor of your house. That’s how you make the works in your life so easy and relaxing, because you are stimulated by the impending rewards after the completed works you do.
Let the Positives Drown the Negatives
Sometimes it is rather hard for us to be cheerful when we encounter the downcast period in our life. If your glass of plain water has been contaminated by a drop of coffee, how are you going to make it crystal clear again? Try to scoop up the drop of coffee from your glass of water? No, it can hardly be done as it has already diluted into the water. The only way is to pour more plain water into the glass until it overflows and totally dilute the drop of coffee. That is why you need to inject more positive elements into your life when you confront with the negative element. When somebody has just broken up with his or her partner, do you think you are capable enough to soothe him or her? Yes, you may do so, but most likely your effort may be in vain as the ‘negative element’ can hardly be demolished during this sentimental moment. It can only be diminished if you know to escalate more positive elements into his or her life. For example, invite him or her to join some charitable activities or positive groups of people such as Toastmasters, so that there is lesser chance for the unhappy issue to be triggered again.
Lending Your Helping Hand to Others
It is a natural instinct in mankind to feel happy when helping others. Why? It is simply because you are proving to yourself and the others that you have the ability to help others. As nobody likes to be rated as weak, the more assistance you require from people around, the weaker you appear to be. If you are able to help others, psychologically you are telling yourself you are still capable to help others. At the same time, you make your life more meaningful from the process of helping others. That’s the reason which makes you feel great.
Your aid to the others doesn’t have to be in material form, such as money. It can be something intangible and abstract, such as consoling a sad friend or helping someone to carry some heavy stuff. Never expect the return from someone you have ever helped. If you do anticipate for the return, you may be feeling unhappy if you do not see the return instantly. In my opinion, the happy feeling that we gain from helping people is already a lucrative return. Don’t you think so?
Let Nature Take Its Course
Do not impose too much pressure to yourself whenever you try to perform something. Let nature take its course. I am not asking you to do nothing or idle for hours to avoid having stress. But if you only aim for the most ideal result in everything you do without enjoying the process, it will only estrange you from happiness. Whenever you perform a task, you ultimately have to accept its final result despite good or bad. Enjoy and learn something from the process should be your final destination. When you start to forget about failure, it’s the time you start to enjoy the process. If you have lost in a competition, treating the competition as a learning platform should be your biggest objective. Knowing how to get up from your falling spot is more important than the fact of your fall.
From here, you get to know there are many ways to be happy in life as long as you tune your mindset into the right one. So, never ever complain that you are living unhappily. Nobody has the power to upset you besides yourself!
