6. All the things you don’t have.
You are right here, right now, with what you have, breathing. Enjoy it. You’ve got nothing to do today except to smile.
Happiness is valuing what you have, and enjoying the people, places, objects and events in your life for what they are. It’s not about changing and achieving all the time; sometimes it’s about being and appreciating. And you can nearly always enjoy the things you have and the events happening around you if youmake up your mind firmly that you will.
7. A mountain of money.
If we counted our blessings more often, instead of our money, we would be a lot richer. Keep money on your mind but out of your heart. Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life for yourself. Cultivate your spiritual growth. The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.
- Happiness formula = Do your best and appreciate what you have.
- Unhappiness formula = Compare yourself to others and the things they have.
It’s nice to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s also important to make sure you haven’t lost track of the things that money can’t buy. You don’t need a lot of money to lead a rich life. Good friends and a loving family are worth their weight in gold. It really is the little things that mean the most… like a long hug at just the right time. (Read The Happiness Project
8. Any event happening in another time and place.
Make your time count. Do not wish your moments away. Do not ruin today by focusing on another time and place. There is only now; realize how rich you are in it.
Right now you are creating history – your legacy. Don’t let life slip by without being aware of it. Life works in a strange way: You want something and you work and wait and work and wait, and feel like it’s taking forever to come. Then it happens and it’s over and all you want to do is relive all the great memories you made along the way.
Happiness is the journey. Open your eyes. Don’t miss it.
9. Constant happiness.
The bottom line is that you can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes. Life is not always perfect, and the utopian world of constant happiness in not natural, nor should you expect it.
In the short-term, your mood will fluctuate, but it is your ability to realize and deal with these fluctuations that allows you to maintain long-term happiness. Any fool can be happy when times are good. It takes a strong soul with real heart to develop smiles out of situations that make most people weep. But it is possible.
Live every day of your life in full. Experience the highs and the lows, the positives and the negatives, and all the moods present between the various extremes. Don’t focus on simply being happy. Focus on living a well-rounded, seasoned life. Focus on achieving completeness. Yes, happiness is part of this completeness, but so is sadness, difficulty, frustration, and failure. And overcoming these latter points supports your personal growth far more than constant happiness.
Next steps…
Choose happiness today by taking life moment by moment, complaining very little, and being thankful for the little things that mean a lot.
Your turn…
What would you add to the list? What do we sometimes forget we do NOT need to be happy? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
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