Five CHARACTER Traits that will Make You HAPPY
“The man of character makes history, the man without it is marred by history.” — Swami Budhananda
Character is what a person truly is. Swami Vivekananda says,
“What you want is character, strengthening of the WILL. Continue to exercise your WILL and it will take you higher. This WILL is almighty. It is character that can cleave through adamantine walls of difficulties.”
Character is an indispensable part of our personality. One’s thoughts, actions, and behavior determine one’s character. It is often our Character that speaks the loudest. An individual of character develops upwards, the one without character slips downwards.
Everyone seeks Happiness. Happiness is a state of our mind as a result of many traits of our character. Following are 5 traits that will have the greatest impact on our happiness:
Courage:
The great thief of happiness is fear. Courage, on the other hand, is fear’s nemesis. It enables us to step outside of our comfort zones, approach people and situations differently, embrace life, and accept the pain that is unavoidable in all of our lives. Happiness is merely an illusion without courage.
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
― Maya Angelou
Patience:
Patience is the most beautiful prayer. Impatience is a major hindrance to happiness. It drives happiness out of the area almost as quickly as it arrives. However, learning to accept and allow, to go with the flow and relax a little, is essential for living a happy life. Life is not entirely predictable. It bubbles and gurgles in unpredictable and ever-changing patterns. The more we try to control the outcome of events that unfold around us, the more frustrated we will become. When we are patient and let life happen, it is much more beautiful and joyful.
“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Gratitude:
Gratitude is the ability to count your blessings and recognize how beautiful life is even when things aren’t going as planned. Our problems do not disappear when we are grateful; they simply take up less space in our hearts, minds, and lives. Learning to be grateful basically requires retraining your mind to consider the silver linings in life, allowing it to diffuse through one’s mindset and overall way of experiencing life.
“Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”
Love:
Love is to grow into the hearts of others and become a part of their lives, but not to bind their hearts or limit their lives. To love is to find happiness in making others happy. It is to understand what others believe, feel, and require. It is to say and do things that make them want to be with us, and to do these things, not in the hope of gaining something good, but because it is natural for us to do so. The more love that beats in one’s heart, the happier and more buoyant one’s heart will be.
“Love is like the Sun. It gives out of its own substance and its own self and, by giving itself, becomes a source of life and light.”
- James Dillet Freeman
Forgiveness:
Research by Kurakova and Yoshiyuki shows that those who readily forgive others are comparatively less prone to diseases related to blood pressure. This means that we can qualitatively change our lives for the better by forgiving others. If we could forgive the malicious behavior of others we can fill our lives with peace and happiness.
Open your heart to forgiveness. Then your heart will finally be open enough to catch its share of happiness as well.
“Great are those who forgive. Those who create disturbances and exhibit bad behavior are small and will remain small.”
Summary:
References:
- 1,000+ Little Things Happy Successful People Do Differently by Marc Chernoff, Angel Chernoff
- How To Build Character by Swami Budhananda
- Lawler KA, Younger JW, Piferi RL, Billington E, Jobe R, Edmondson K, Jones WH. A change of heart: cardiovascular correlates of forgiveness in response to interpersonal conflict. J Behav Med. 2003 Oct;26(5):373–93. DOI: 10.1023/a:1025771716686. PMID: 14593849.
