Genuine Happiness Comes from Within
Life isn’t the sweetest candy. Sometimes, when I
feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people
who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives, and then
thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How
did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can
manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful
life?” Then I pause and observe for awhile, I think, that
maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.
So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is
to love yourself.
My theology professor once said that “loving means
accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a
perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie the courage to
be able to discover ways to improve and learn from your mistakes.
Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When
you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your
family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the
things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question
“how to be genuinely happy.” Contentment does not mean that you have
to accept your lot, only that you are content with this particular
stage of your life, while on your way to the next.
You will never be able to experience true happiness
if you are continually questioning life and what it throws at you.
You must be prepared to accept life as it is and be able to work
through it.
I believe that life is about finding out about right
and wrong, trying and failing, winning and losing. These are things
that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a
person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this
should not hinder us from becoming happy.
Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest
Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning
the highest month's pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the
most sought after prizes in life don’t always go to the fastest, the
strongest, the bravest or even the best. So, how do you become
genuinely happy? Everyone has their own definition of
‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as many best
selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may
mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar
may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean
success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple.
You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Happiness is
not about what you own, it's about who and what you are. It's about
doing, and making the best out of every single thing. When you find
yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling yourself “Oh, I’ll
do better next time”, when you possess a willingness to stand up
again and try – that will help make you a genuinely happy person.
When you learn to accept yourself and your own
faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely
happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also
be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will
receive love back, tenfold.
Again, throw me that same question “how to become
genuinely happy?”. I’ll refer you to a friend of mine who strongly
quoted- “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to
life’s aches and pain. But most of us don’t know that the best kind
of laughter is laughter at yourself. Because then you don’t just
become happy, you become free.”
Further Self Improvement resources are
available from
The Freedom
Seed
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