Five Things You Need to Know About Happiness: Part I

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read my post; this one is a brief divergence from the topics I've been covering for the past couple weeks (Joy and Happiness). This list is not comprehensive, and will feature more as time goes on; they are simply observations and realizations I've made from interacting with people. Please enjoy, and feel free to offer your thoughts!

1. Happiness is not achieved, it's innate. I believe everyone is innately born with a warm bubbly smile on their heart; some people tend to lose that smile along the journey of life, and some don't. I believe you can make a conscious choice - every morning you wake up - to be happy, or not to be regardless of your situation. I quite literally like to give myself a nice talking to in the mirror every morning. Try it! Much of who you are comes from your own self-conceptions.

2. Happiness is hard to maintain without relationships. Call you mother every once in a while, will ya? Family, friends, brief acquaintances, and passerby people all contribute to our happiness. Almost every time I ask someone what makes them happy, it almost always comes in the form of a relationship; the classic answer is.....family. I challenge you to build the relationships with your family and assess how it influences the level of your happiness. Having that support makes all the difference on a difficult day. Make a point to call one of your family members once a week; easy enough?

3. Happiness comes much easier with a healthy body. I'm a huge advocate for eating healthy and exercising; the benefits of doing so are demonstrative in so many ways. Bob Marley had a wonderful perspective on this; watch his documentary! He had the "your body is a temple" mentality. Seemed like a fairly happy guy, right? Find a friend to help you plan out a nutrition plan, or just as good, an exercise schedule. There are even programs that will pay you to get in shape!

4. Happiness can be derived from your perspective. Have you ever been at a dinner party or visiting with family and you find yourself extremely bored and wanting to be doing something else? Perhaps you want to be on your phone checking social media, playing a video game, or doing whatever it is you do in your free time. I almost bet - prior to you entering that dinner party or family get-together - you created a negative perspective on how it would go. Our mind has a great deal of power in these scenarios. Do yourself a favor....the next time you need to do something you don't necessarily want to do, actively search for positive outcomes, and pursue them. Let me know if that changes anything.

5. Happiness can be found in the new, and the unknown. What do I mean by this? Simply put, go out of your way to do things you wouldn't normally do. Travel somewhere random, speak to people outside of your usual demographic, eat odd things, do something risky. By doing these things, you learn about the world, and you learn about yourself. Tip - start out small and change your shampoo, maybe something with coconut in it? It's all about momentum.

Thank you for reading! I hope your journey brings you happiness. Please feel free to read my other posts, and share your thoughts in the comments: