The secret of happiness revealed

What is happiness?
Happiness is the state of being happy which give rise to positive emotions. Many of us say that:

• I will be happy if I stand first in the class
• I will be happy if I get this job
• I will feel happy if I buy this car
• I will be happy when I buy a house
  

The following questions generally arises in the mind of a happiness seeker:

• Is happiness dependent upon the occurrences of certain events as mentioned above?
• What is the source of happiness, outside or inside?
• Can a person under tough conditions or circumstances be happy?
• Is succeeding in acquiring materialistic things are the source of real happiness?

The answers are hidden in the following points; let us understand one by one:

(1) The art of living in the present

We are unhappy because either we repent or mourn about the past or worried about the future. Our awareness must be completely centered on the present moment. The past and the future never exists, these two are illusions. What really exists is the PRESENT moment. We mourn about the past that if we could have done this, then the situation would have been different (reason for unhappiness). We worry too much about the future and predict imaginary negative outcomes which create an unnecessary amount of stress (another reason for unhappiness).
Stop for a moment, hold your mind and try to analyze above mentioned two statements. We will find that both of these are imaginary or illusion statements, which has no real existence. And we are anxious or unhappy about the things or events which never existed. When you live in present, you are accepting life as it is now and you have forgiven your mistakes. This will create a dramatic effect on your emotional well being which will make you happy.
Remember, if you want to change anything in life, it can be done in the present moment. Practice living in the present by consciously making your mind to focus in the present moment.

(2) Practice gratitude in daily life

We complain so much about petty things. Realize that God has given you a beautiful life to live. We have senses to feel, listen, touch, see, taste and smell. We are gifted with such a sophisticated and high tech body which can do almost all the daily routines with ease without being actually noticed by us.
We are blessed with many more precious things, which we generally ignore and take it for granted. If we make list of all the gifted things in life, we will find that our problems are nothing in comparison to our gifts.
Try to practice gratitude in daily life by cultivating the habit of being grateful and thankful for every good thing that we have in our life. The few of these things are:

• I am thankful to God that I have plenty of drinking water
• I am grateful to God that I am not sleeping hungry
• I am thankful that I can enjoy the fresh breeze of air, greenery of nature, warmth of sun rays and different seasons.
• I am grateful to God that I have parents, friends and colleagues to take care of me.
• I am thankful to God that you have bestowed me with healthy body and mind so that I can enjoy the pleasures of life.
• I am thankful to God that I am alive to live my life and can fulfill my desires.

When you practice gratitude, a feel good factor makes you happy.

(3) The joy of sharing

Sharing breaks the artificial boundaries that we create to make an impact. Sharing creates mutual enjoyment and is a founding pillar to strong relationships.
Try to re-capture the picture of yours during school times or the college times while sharing lunch amongst your friends, you see the laughing, smiling and playful picture of yours, this is nothing but a feeling of joy and happiness through sharing.
Sharing is a way to express yourself and to let your emotions out.
When you share your problems, experiences, knowledge and information among your friends, it helps in easing anxiety, relieving stress and keeps your mind light and free.

(4) The power of giving

It is serving or helping someone without expecting anything in return. The act of giving generates the true feeling of happiness.
A mother give to her child without any expectation is an example of unconditional giving.
You generally think that why you should give as you are already short of money or other resources?
Actually, you are indirectly sending message to your mind about the scarcity of the resources, which are otherwise infinite, it limits your thinking only to yourself. Now, your mind will restrict itself in attracting rich resources which lead to prosperity.
You know “giving” is like investing, you give your time, affection and money to nurture your child, you are actually investing for his/her good future.
Then why not with other children, who are poor, starved with no education. Your small contribution can make their life and reshape their career. You cannot measure the amount of joy and level of happiness that you will get by bringing the smile on their faces and happiness in their lives through your small contribution. Here you feel happy by making someone else happy; this is called the power of giving.

(5) Refrain from judgement and detach your expectations

Learning to accept people without judging for what they are is one of the biggest challenges in one’s life. Actually, we judge people based on our perceptions and the expectations, and the mismatch between our expectations and the person’s behavior becomes the reason of unhappiness. We become upset because our mind finds it difficult to accept that why a person would have behaved like this?
When you detach your expectations from a person’s behavior, then you will not get upset by any change in his behavior.
Practicing this on daily basis will make you happy.

(6) Happiness is a choice of your conscious mind

Happiness is nothing but your reaction to the events or circumstances. The things will not change to better if you react negatively, it will rather worsen the situation. How you choose to react in any situation will determine your state of mind?
What happens to you is the way your mind looks at it. It means that your mind is the source of happiness. In any tough situation, you should try to condition your mind to react positively like:
How can I learn from this situation?
What positive things are hidden in any so called bad situation?​
Remember that it is always your choice on how to react in any situation.​

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