In Search Of Happiness

Happiness, as the psychologists say, is highly subjective. Yet a few adjustments in your life and habits can give you lasting happiness. Here are eight simple steps for enduring happiness.

In Search Of Happiness

We all, as humans, crave happiness. For each of us, the definition of happiness is different. We all have different views on what constitutes happiness in our lives. But, whatever our individual views, most often, most of us equate happiness with success. But these two, happiness and success, are as different as chalk and cheese. As different as sleeping and waking. Success, whatever happens to be in our understanding, doesn't always lead to happiness. There is an ocean of literature, in the form of books and journal articles, both scholarly and otherwise, on how to be successful in life and one's career. YouTube is full of videos suggesting sure-shot ways to be successful.

But, when it comes to happiness, it is a different story. While we all know how to be successful in our work and life, we may not know, with certainty, what will lead to happiness. What steps one should take to be happy? Do we know how to be happy and satisfied? Is it a mental state that one can acquire with practice and perseverance? Or is it something one is born with?

Most erroneously equate possession or earning a lot of money with happiness. But, had that been the case, all rich people would have been happy. But that is very seldom the case. There is enough data available to suggest that earning a lot of money does not necessarily lead to happiness. So, what makes one happy?

While there are no definitive answers to how to be happy, here are a few steps one can take to achieve happiness. But before going any further, I want to clarify one point. None of the measures suggested here to achieve happiness are easy to imbibe, however simple they may seem. Simple does not mean it is easy. Putting all these suggestions into practice will take a lot of effort and a consistent change of habit.

Happiness is a way of life. One can choose to be happy despite not having enough or remain unhappy despite having all. So here are a few changes or adjustments you require to lead a happy and contended life.

Let Bygones Be Bygone

We tend to spend too much time in our past. Most of the time, we are overwhelmed with what happened in our past and, in the process, sabotage our present. We forget that we do not have any control over our past. Whatever had happened had happened. No effort from our side in the present can change our past. Neither overthinking about our past can change anything in the present or the future. Dwelling too much in the past will only increase our unhappiness.

The fountainhead of unhappiness comes from our feelings that we did not do enough and could have had a better life had we acted differently in the past. But these kinds of thoughts are self-defeating. We seldom deliberately commit mistakes. In hindsight, when we look back, we realise that our acts in the past didn't give us the results we looked forward to. Hence, the dissatisfaction.