The purpose of life is to increase the happiness quotient. Happy life is not a myth. Life is fundamentally random and is full of uncertainties. It’s your approach that majorly decides whether it is a beautiful journey or a living nightmare with constant struggle. At the end of it, it is all up to you.
In each fraction of time, it is you who decides which side to choose. And the choice made by you ultimately affects your mind, body and soul, your current state and future, the personality you shape into as well as others around you.
The definition of happy life varies from person to person. For many, it may be partying with friends, travelling without any worries and a day full of fun filled activities. For some, it may be going close to nature, aimless wandering, eating well and sleeping ten hours.
A lot of philosophies have been written about what a good life means and thousands of books have defined meaning of it.
A Smile for a happy life
But if we talk of basic form, a good life means doing the things that give you joy and satisfaction. It is about finding purpose and happiness in what you do. However, there is no holistic definition. But it is widely said living with high standard with moral, ethics and integrity is a good life. Life is a process and not an event. There is no destination to it. You need to live your life in such a way that you enjoy the process.
Following are the advices which are time tested to improve your quality and happiness quotient of life.
1. Things Should Not Be Taken Personally
All people are different. Everyone carries a different personality construct. A lot of unfair and bad things happen to us because of people around us. We may wonder why our boss behaved rudely or why someone did not help us. Once you realize that people are of all kinds, they may be selfish, egoistic or non-loving. It will be easier for you to stop taking things personally. Expectation from people is the key root cause of getting hurt, learn not to expect and whatever good comes your way, take it as a bonus. Learn to look at things lightly with a sense of humour. This will help you to move on more quickly.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking
2. Do Not Hang On with the Past
Until we discover time machine, we cannot undo our past. We need to break the tendency of constantly reliving our past and get stuck in past memories. Learn to let go and forgive. Do not carry any anger, resentment and self-pity that is arising from the past incidents. Consider that there is nothing to moan about in life. Be it death of loved ones, mistakes made in relationship, things we said when we were angry, let them go. Instead take a lesson from the past and build a better present and future. Yoga and meditation is a good way to make your mind still and prevent you from reliving past. Try meditation for few minutes a day and gradually increase it.
3. Be Happy with Less
Get rid of people who spread negativity and spoil your mind. Choose less but quality friends who motivate you and make you happy. Also, in today’s modern world, it is easy to overdo things. Overspending on clothes, accessories, gadgets. Ask yourself before you indulge into such spree whether you actually need them? You may have a lot of such unused things lying with you. Learn to live with what you need. Wanting more and more is a sign of an addiction which is driven by sub conscious mind. The possession of things give a momentary pleasure. Such addictions can harm you financially also. It is a good idea to clear wardrobe periodically to create more space for yourself and be happy with less.
Even working more is an addiction. You should make a to-do list, do the required and essential tasks and do away with the rest. This will allow you to wok less and have more time for you to pursue your hobbies, passions and interest and be with important people in your happy life.
4. Have Gratitude
Appreciate what you have and be thankful for it. People who are grateful are happy people. And be thankful each day. Many people do not even have basic things. Focus on love, opportunities to be happy, the things you enjoy doing and do not long for more and more. It is a never ending race. However, being grateful does not mean that you can be happy all the time but you will be able to recognize that things will get better during hard times and you will be on the other side.
Write about things you are grateful about each day.
5. Don’t Worry About What Future Holds for You
Things are happening here and now. By worrying about what may happen in future, you may miss out on good things of present. We fear bad things to come our way in future and spend a lot of time in thinking and little on planning. Things in life do not go our way or the way we think. They just happen. Good or bad. No one predicted the outbreak of Corona, but it happened. We need to know that life is highly unpredictable. We need to face the things as they come. There cannot be a plan for everything that will come up in future. By worrying about future, you will make things complicated and hard. Make relaxation techniques as a part of your daily life. They are known to calm down the mind and relieve you from the anxieties of future.
6. Decorate Your Loneliness
Do not force yourself to fill your void by getting people that may not fit in. Build a good relationship with yourself. There is no rule which says the people who are alone are not happy. As a matter of fact, we will find people around us who are into relationship with their hobbies and passions. Start loving yourself. Make a list of things that make you happy. You will be surprised that your state of being happy is not too dependent on people. As a matter of fact, we need very few quality relationships in our lives and the volume does not matter. Once you develop self-love, your self-esteem and courage will build up and you will appreciate how great a gift it is to be alone.
Find Your Happiness in Small Things
7. Look Out for New Opportunities
Leave your comfort zone and try something new. It will give you sense of creating something on your own which brings in great joy. You may be in a job but you may have talent of writing. Write a book or create your own blog. Without risk, there is no reward. However, do a proper assessment of your abilities and a thorough ground work before your venture into something new. Even trying small new things will bring joy, if you like to dance, join a dance class or go to a disco. Try something new often.
8. Be Kind
Giving brings in the greatest joy. Give kindness to all people you meet irrespective of their behaviour towards you. Always be smiling, polite and offer help wherever you can.
We should not consider someone’s bad mood as a flaw, it may be just a bad day for the person. We do not know what is happening in the life of the other person and it does not take much to be kind. Once you start offering kindness, you will be surprised how quickly the kindness is returned to you. You will not only improve someone else’s day, but you will find that you feel better in return. Be generous with giving compliments. Make someone laugh or send a nice text to your family or friends.
You cannot change the world around you, but by exercising above choices, you can change your perspective and live a happier life.
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