Life | Finding Happiness — Day 8 Isolation
Are We Searching For Happiness From The Wrong Places?
Let’s find it from within ourselves…
Often happiness is associated with achievements and measurement of success. We all know that success is defined differently from a person to another, but the common ones are the goals we achieved.
Guillaume Apollinaire who is a French Poet once said:
Now and then, it is good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
Happiness is beyond achievements. It is a simple as just being happy. Be happy with who we are. It is also to be happy with what we have at the present moment.
Achievements Are Temporal Bliss For Happiness
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so, wants nothing.” — Seneca
Happiness is not the achievements of a materialistic world like our paper degree, car license, vehicles, owning a house, being a manager, and getting a 4k salary. It is not about getting married so that we are proven worth it for companionship and sex drive. It is not about ensuring we beat others in baby births.
Until we decided to go without them, we failed to realize how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them but because we had them
— Seneca
One after another, we would quench for more. We are never satiated and satisfied, even if we do not need it. These can be removed anytime in our life, and we’ll be sure our split-second happiness was just temporal bliss.
Let’s learn to look beyond. Strive in our goals but do not put happiness in the measurement of the outcome.
For example, marriage is a sacred act. Love is one of the pillars that hold it together. But if you expected a marriage as a form of ‘having a tycoon spouse’ you’ll be disappointed when he or she get tested with business folded down. The intention is vital.
Look at the intentions.
Happiness is Self-Love
When we treat ourselves well, we will find joy. A rich person may not be a happy soul. A poor person does not equate to misery too.
Self-love is asking yourself what you need — every day — and making sure you receive it
— Dr. Michaela Dunbar, Psychologist in London
Yes. Everyday. What do we need every day that will at least make us happy? Some people find happiness daily by the following:
- starting the morning with meditation, praise, and worship
- having a cup of coffee with loved ones before going to work
- returning home early to have played with pets and children
These are little things that happiness found. Simplicity. Nothing extravaganza or expensive. Money should not be able to buy us happiness.
Take the time today to love yourself. You deserve it
— Dr. Michaela Dunbar
Self-Love through self-care is one way of happiness for many people. Find the joy of action we need to do for ourselves. Only we could feel it inside us. If it is yoga, so be it.
Happiness is based on our Thoughts & Perception
Let’s look within ourselves.
The best of advice I fall in love with is from the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. It is because the feelings we have are the results of how we perceive matters to be.
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts, therefore guard accordingly, and take care that you entertained no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature
— Marcus Aurelius
We can never break the bondage of unhappiness stuck with past events. No matter what we lose from it, there will always be something better coming up. We can’t receive anything new from our Heavenly Father while gripping on the old. We got to learn to move on in life facing forward and not looking backward.
Let’s learn to let go baggage of the past.
Gratitude is Happiness
I saw the happiness lurks beneath the feeble energy.
In gratitude, I found happiness. Happiness can be as easy as writing down our daily gratitude and seeing it from different perspectives. Having a diary or writing a gratitude journal may bring different feelings in our days later on.
For example:
- I am thankful for my children, and I will enjoy their presence regardless of their energy demand. Because 1-day, they will move out and live elsewhere. I have to learn to let go.
- I am thankful for a husband who doesn’t gamble and drink. He is not rich, but at least he is not demanding.
- I am thankful for being thrifty than splurging on unnecessary. While others may live in debts of credit cards, I live within my means.
- I am thankful for a neighbor who is practicing different beliefs. He did not squeeze down my throat to convert me against my will. We love and protect each other.
These are little things we do not see in our lives. Enjoy the little moments and immerse ourselves in every little tiny thing. Those moments were what others might be longing for while we have it and have not learned to appreciate it.
Today, I attached this poem written by Nandkishor Shingne. I hope all of you enjoy it.
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