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Something’s Amiss:
Hoarding, clutter, addiction, breakup, debt – All these words have one common underlying reason.
It is our undying need to find happiness in all the wrong reasons instead of within us. Want a sure shot way to create your own happiness? Read along.
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How We Think of Happiness:
We want to be happy with another car, with another spouse or with another internet service provider. On a daily basis, we use our expectations on our children and others as a gauge of our happiness. But how can anything that’s impermanent be a source of permanent happiness?
Material consumption can bring us happiness, but after a while, we’re back to craving that dopamine rush of excitement once again. We continue to consume more because the threshold of bliss is not being met. No wonder, Materialism is expecting the everlasting from the never lasting.
Another thing we associate happiness with is, it has to be achievement based. We wait for that promotion, we wait to hear from Ivy League Colleges for their acceptance letters for our children and we want to be rewarded for the work we should have done anyway.
Why can’t we just be happy, in the awareness of gratitude for life that has brought us here.
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Teenage Blues:
Teenage melancholy is a result of confusion stemming from their rapidly evolving personal identity. But, remember, chaos and struggle are precursors to growth.
Of course, we can’t always expect to be merry and free from all physical pain and emotional turmoil. The point is to understand that all negative and positive emotions stem from our thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs towards our current situation.
So, how can we be happy even if we didn’t do well in a test or lose our job? The key is to not allow those sad feelings to linger. And make an effort to anchor our thoughts in happy, bright and positive thoughts. Simply put, Let’s Choose Happy. Let’s teach our teens that happiness is already them, its in our core waiting to be discovered.
We always place greater value on what we want than what we already have. Isn’t that strange??
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Conquer Your Mind:
Hippocrates insists that “from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations.” We are our brains. Let’s not allow our brains to tell us what emotion can take over our day please.
Pain seems to be chronic, then why must HAPPINESS be fleeting?
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Carpe Diem: “Seize the day”
You can start off every day with endorphins, the happy hormones, coursing through your body!
Here are some ways people can find true happiness:
1. Being grateful for good health, be it physical, mental, or emotional.
2. Nurturing positive relationships. .
3. Having a strong and sustainable purpose
For all of us, Happiness can come from the roots of our optimism.
We can find them in our connections, contributions and our impact on the world. We can find them in how we positively change the world around us. They are in our sense of purpose and meaning we feel towards the goals we set for ourselves.
Our source of joy can also come from our capacity to spread hope, love and joy to ourselves and everyone around us. Serve others and find a purpose bigger than yourself. When you add value to others’ lives, you can never be unhappy.
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Learning Joy from Children:
Children find joy by biting into a popsicle and by running away with all their toys in their hands when we want them to stay put. Hear those shrieks of joy?
Children seek happiness in self-exploration of their environment and in unstructured play.
When we grow up, we forget we too can generate our happy hormone, Dopamine, by eating a great meal, looking at something beautiful or by calling that long-lost best friend.
When we do things that we enjoy, we activate the learning centers of the brain. That’s so many of us have an insatiable appetite for learning, growth and momentum.
Do you know what gives you that unbridled joy? What are you doing today about being happy forever?