
04 Oct The Secret to Happiness
For all of us, there’s little doubt that after our need for survival, the quest for happiness is the primary reason we do as we do. This dictates our desires, choices and relates directly to our sense of failure or success. Not attaining joy can even lead us to despair or even depression. So our search continues.
It seems that the more we chase happiness, the more it can elude us. Research reveals that the distribution of depression is not confined to the poor but equally so among the wealthy or famous. One study even goes further. Whether we are rich or poor, there are many important factors that relate to how we can experience joy in our lives. Having money can be only one of them if it is placed in a certain perspective.
What’s the catch?
You may have heard of how trying to catch a butterfly is often not successful, but when you stand still it may land on your shoulder. But what does this really mean? Well, by attention to achieving things outside ourselves – events that we think will make us happy – our primary focus tends to be on our relative unhappy state or our lack, and this is counterproductive towards achieving true joy. But here is the best secret to lasting joy.
The key to lasting joy is not based on how much you have but how much you give. Even kindness makes you happy.
The cherry on top of the happiness pie
Main ingredient. Take one large dose of love, mix well and share. This works a treat as a tonic from despair and feeling useless.
Why? When you stop thinking of your own troubles and look to what you can do to uplift someone else, from their troubles, your own seem to lift or disappear.
For example, you can go visit an animal shelter and take a dog for a walk. As a bonus, the walk may even help with your weight or overall health. Perhaps you can forge new friendships too. You can feel less lonely when you go visit a home/bed bound person to offer a hand of friendship.
This pie is best baked without expectations of thanks or to be liked or thought of as a good person. No one is superior and all parties are equal.
A transformative approach
All this means that it is not the things outside ourselves that make us happy, but how we think. Our perspective can dramatically alter according to what we place our attention on. It impacts on our health in dramatic ways.
I’ll share more of how to increase joy every day and reveal how our thoughts relate to our life experiences in my upcoming program, so register today if you’d like to know more!