Everybody wants to be happy. Happiness is the ultimate goal to achieve no matter what life throws at us. We all have good and bad things happening throughout our life and being happy means different things to each of us. And while we all are at different stages of our life and some of us may be more fortunate than others, we all share this constant search to find happiness in our lives, whatever that may be.
So how do we find happiness? Well, we have to look for it. And happiness doesn’t come just in one form. There are many less obvious forms of happiness that we can try to find and incorporate in our daily lives:
Contentment is a mental state of satisfaction, of being at ease with what we have and with our current situation.
To achieve contentment, accept and let go of the things you have no control over and try to focus instead on what you can control.
Joy is a spark that gives you a feeling of great pleasure which transcends through your whole body. It’s an emotion that comes from deep within.
Be open and pay attention to all those things that bring you joy, those little things that can give you this unique feeling of happiness. When you find them, stick to them as much as possible.
Love is an intense feeling of deep affection and strong emotional attachment. Loving something or somebody is such a strong feeling that it makes it almost impossible to describe but which fuels our hearts immensely.
We find love especially in the people who are very close to us. To fuel your life with love, focus on and nurture those relationships.
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation for the things you have and receive.
Feel gratitude by cultivating it on a daily basis: What are you grateful for? To whom can you reach out and show them your appreciation?
Positivity is a state of mind. It’s the practice of being positive or optimistic in attitude.
It’s not something we’re born with so we need to train our mind to respond to situations in a positive and optimistic way.
Try to stay in a positive environment, surround yourself with positive people and try to focus on things that are good or going well rather than the negative ones. You can read more on how to adopt a positive attitude in life here.
Excitement is the feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness, especially for what you are doing or for what is ahead. Pay attention to which activity or situation sparks this feeling, and make sure you always have exciting things to look forward to in your day or calendar.
Finding happiness will improve your life, as it will allow you to fill it with quality and meaningful moments both at home and at work.
Whatever kind of happiness you are looking for, it’s important to stay open, learn to recognise and understand what brings you happiness and embrace those things and moments.