The pursuit of happiness. It’s in the constitution, but what is happiness?
To be clear, by happiness I’m making no reference to when you come home to an unexpected box of cheesy garlic bread.
I mean a state of satisfaction. The pursuit idea is we all have a right to do whatever we deem contributive, without infringing on another’s journey, to our pursuit of happiness. The problem is we don’t get instructions on making happiness a reality.
In this column you’ll get what happiness is, keys to happiness, and 19 memes for you to enjoy to top off the lessons you learned for the betterment of your chances to turn that pursuit into an accomplishment.
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What Is Happiness
According to Oxford Languages happiness is the state of being happy.
And happy is defined as feeling or showing pleasure or contentment [1].
So happiness is when your default setting is to be overall satisfied.
It’s notable that pleasure contributes to happiness, but it isn’t happiness. Pleasure can be a moment like dunking a basketball or enjoying a comedy. Happiness is long-term and can be intentionally cultivated.
Happiness is a mindset. You deliberately become and remain happy.
You can hit the jackpot or lose everything and once those moments of euphoria or dismay subside you’re back to your mental baseline.
So happiness isn’t money, not a personal relationship, not a list of accomplishments.. it’s your outlook. Of course you need shelter and food, but outside of basic necessities it’s in the noggin. How do you view your life?
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Keys To The Art Of Happiness
Happiness has an antithetic aesthetic. The look of it varies person to person, yet there are commonalities that lead to or exist within this desirable state. These commonalities are steps you take or habits to develop that’ll raise the likelihood you’ll experience happiness more often and eventually rather than experience, it’ll become your natural condition.
In no particular order here are some of the keys to happiness:
Don’t wait. It’s not uncommon to think “when x happens I’ll be happy”. Not only if you wait for x, x may not occur, but more importantly when x takes place you won’t be happy. You’ll experience temporary pleasure, which does help, but your mindset has to change for happiness to remain. Begin now.
Dawn your rose-colored glasses. Decide to see the good even while working on the bad. Glass half full mentality. It’s not fake it ‘til you make it, it’s being grateful for what’s there as you expand. No matter how dire it may seem there’s a positive, if nothing else the positive is you still have a beating heart and air to breathe.. With that you always have opportunity.
Identify issues. Identifying, then eliminating or dealing with what causes negative feelings, even if it’s merely your train of thought is a key. Simply because it lowers the severity of emotional valleys.
Do something creative. Participating in or doing something artistic stimulates parts of the brain that, when exercised frequently, add positively to your life’s quality [4]. Draw, color, write a poem, dance - anything that works that development muscle.
Expect better. When the storm comes you should expect it to subside. Optimism is a beautiful thing, it doesn’t mean you have to be naïve, but to be happy one must be optimistic. This form of positivity also coerces positive cognitive adaptations; vice versa is true too, so be careful with your negative thoughts [3].
Law of attraction. What you focus on is what you get. What constantly plagues your mind will become your reality. See things as good or as improving, that's what you get. Visualize life as a downward spiral, your level of happiness will drop like a Mike Tyson opponent.
Anticipate work. Understand it isn’t a stage you hit and that’s that. You don’t get to wipe your hands and say “job well done”. Takes consistent effort.. especially if your mindset has been upside down for a while, whether the cloudy outlook felt warranted or not one must work to change.
Display happiness. Small positivities push you down the road toward happiness. When you show this nature it spreads like wildfire. Somebody asks how are you, you say “great” - no sigh, no complaints, unless you have a comedic spin to put on it. Bringing other’s moods up contributes to your own happiness. That means smile too.
Eliminate clutter. Part of happiness is a clear or at least navigable mind, so clean up. Make your surroundings relatively neat. Being surrounded by junk is an overlooked stressor/distraction.
Find a purpose. Having a purpose is one of the anchors. How do you want to contribute to society? Answer that and once you start making strides or even plotting the steps you’re already in pursuit.
Accept responsibility. Accept it as your responsibility to cultivate happiness. Others can contribute to what makes you happy, others can even throw wrenches, but it’s on you to be happy.
Laugh. In the last meme article I covered laughter’s importance. Laugh often, it’s an assistant to happiness.
Challenge your brain. Part of satisfaction is having a challenge to overcome. This challenge could be self-imposed, but an obstacle for your brain to maneuver is good for working those mental muscles and providing positive impulses that’ll add to your well-being. Go solve some problems.
Manage stress. Constructively managing stress is happiness’s best bud. Thoroughly read the stress blog and you’ll learn ways to deal with it that’ll make you more likely happy.
Exercise. Stress relief, endorphin release, weight control, overall health enhancement, muscle growth.. endless list of why - they all contribute to happiness.
Eat clean. Consume relatively healthy foods most of the time, IE quality protein sources. They help keep health problems from taking over and you feel better physically with quality food sources.
Get your sleep. A lot of the reasons you should exercise apply to getting 7-9 hours of sleep. When that falters, try a nap.
Control your body fat. Being at a decent body fat percentage works with lowering the potential for cortisol release, hence raising happiness potential since cortisol is a stress hormone. Excess body fat leads to a 17% higher chance of developing depression according to Science Daily [5].
Check your emotions. Evaluate your feelings, sometimes they’re right.. sometimes they’re wrong. Understanding the “why” whenever they occur helps you develop control. Controlling your emotions is a quick route to happiness.
Be confident. Confidence is about being secure in who you are. How could that not contribute to your happiness? I talk about confidence a bit in the man rules blog, as well as the success column. If you’re not confident you’ll end up hiding or lying about yourself in some fashion - you’ll never reach true happiness while living a lie. —>15 Ways To Become More Confident
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So, It’s About That Time
Use these keys and other positive measures to improve your happiness and life’s quality, you’ll live longer too [2]. Unfortunate happenings are inevitable, but your response and how deeply you allow them to affect your mental homeostasis is controllable. Find your happiness, put those muscles to use (the cheek ones too), and Be Great.
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