We all strive for happiness and joy in our lives and most of us look for happiness outside of ourselves. External situations and life events bring us happiness, joy and enrich our lives. However, these are temporary and fleeting - if we do not have an inner peace and joy derived from fully loving ourselves for the pure loving being that we are, we cannot maintain the external joys of life. External experiences and sources soon fade and if we are lucky leave us with precious memories - however, we always return to the same inner-feelings that we had before the happy experience. Our inner truth!
We all feel that other people hold the secret to our happiness - being in healthy and enriching relationships with family, friends and colleagues is vital for our mental health as it contributes to a secure and loving life. However, time soon teaches us that once we find and achieve our own pure inner happiness, it is permanent and cannot be rocked by any outer experiences we have. Recent research suggests that 50% of our happiness is determined by our genes, 40% by our activities, and 10 percent by our life circumstances. If we consider these percentages, we have to say that the 40% derived from our activities is a large percentage that we have at our disposal, we can use this to improve our happiness and make a positive impact in how we live our lives. This could be how we start our day, what we eat, who we choose to spend time with and how, creative activities, exercise, group activities and so on. We do however have to be disciplined and motivated enough to break habits and implement the activities that will enrich our lives.
It is a well-known fact that happy people have an inner joy and love for themselves that no one can disrupt. Yes, life has its ups and downs and always will, however happy people have a resilience and strength that helps them to bounce back very quickly and not to get swept up with life's negative experiences. This leaves them with a positive mind-set that they always return to. We all know someone who has a positive mind-set and lives in the moment, they are happy if not all, most of the time. Happy people have a naturally positive demeanour and nature which is very attractive to others because they make everyone feel good in their presence. They become role models with their bright and positive outlook. - people feel encouraged and motivated by them.
Here are a few things we could all adopt to try and generate a happier outlook.
have positive self-belief and love who we are no matter what happens in our lives.
don't take anything personally, we are all pure loving beings and perfect creations just as we are.
try to forgive and not hold onto grudges or resentments - they rob us of our of inner peace and happiness.
make decisions based on our goals and not allow other people’s opinions to cloud our judgement – other people’s opinions are just that their opinions and perspective.
practice daily gratitude and live in the present moment.
avoid judging, criticising and comparing - this robs us of peace, love and joy.
do not dwell on the past and look forward to the future with enthusiasm and a positive outlook.
choose to focus on the positive aspects of life and find joy in everyday experiences.
do not dwell on and avoid ruminating on negative experiences – these will pass, your inner peace is always there once you find it. Tomorrow is always a new day and an opportunity for a fresh start.
view challenges as an opportunity to learn valuable lessons, improve and expand on our knowledge and experiences.
proactively and bravely take on new opportunities and make decisions without over-thinking about the pros and cons - persevere and you will find that the world is your oyster and you will enrich your life.
Life is too precious to be unhappy, we can all make positive changes in our lives. We can all make the conscious decision to start implementing little steps into our lives and start each day with a fresh new outlook. Start practicing today and tomorrow could be the first day of your new happy life.