You know, I think happiness has become a complicated game thanks to the self-help world. As much there are people, books, guides, articles, blogs and even seminars to help us, the message of happiness, particularly how to get it has been marred.
How does one actually become happy?
Do we have to stop negative thinking and start practising positive thinking?
Do we start being grateful?
Do we have to find love?
Do we have to use the law of attraction to truly become happy?
Or do we adhere to the more universal idea that you can't chase happiness?
Yep. The self-help world and its advocates has certainly tried to force feed you a bunch of ideas, some even going so far as to say that if you don't follow them, you absolutely will not be happy.
Now, here's what I think about how you can become truly happy:
It's everything. You play the game by making use of every tool to suit your lifestyle.
That means to say, you can't escape the the most common ideas (remember, they're there to help you after all), but you've the power to control every one of them.
Let me try to break it down for you.
Here are the 7 main elements of happiness and how to use them
1) Passion
Passion isn't just a hobby or something you like to do in your past time.
Passion is your truth. Passion is what lights your fire and makes you happy. Now, if you think about it, isn't happiness the main truth in life? Isn't that the only thing all of us humans want?
This is simple and powerful. So if you find passion, you find happiness. You literally don't have to have a care in the world since you're happy doing what you do.
Use this element of passion, and the world will make sense to you.
2) Positive thinking
What we make of the world and our own lives is based on our thoughts and perspective of everything.
Now, you can either go negative or positive. Those are the only two routes your head can take. The choice is up to you.
You have the power of imagination. Eradicate negative thinking and try to fit in some positive thoughts. That's how powerful your thoughts are. They can decide your happiness.
Think about it... you know it's true.
3) Gratitude
This is an extension to positive thinking. It's about seeing the greater things in life.
I like to think that this is optimism on a practical level.
Stop focusing on what you lack in life. Focus on what you have and be thankful. Not only is this as easy as it can be said, you will discover how lucky and in turn, happy you actually are when you realize there're so many things you can be grateful for.
A great way to start is tomorrow. When you wake up, lay it bed for a minute. Name ten things in your head you're grateful. That's way better than dreading the day ahead because of work or whatever.
4) Getting work done
I personally think that a huge part of happiness comes from looking into your life and its achievements. In a way, pride gives birth to a lot of happiness.
How you define "work" is solely up to you. So whatever it is you want to get done, get it done. Even a monk gets his "work" done by taking that first step to meditate all the time.
You will be happy as you feel accomplished. You will NOT be happy if you look back into a life of wasted chances, regret and generally not realizing your full potential.
5) Helping others
A happy person is a good person. I strongly believe in this.
A bad person is essentially unhappy because he or she knows they've been messing up and creating problems for others. It then turns into a vicious cycle of self-loathing and regret as they take it on others again and again since they don't choose to reflect.
So do you want to be happy? Help others then. Be kind to one another. Show compassion, especially to the less fortunate.
Why? Just because. There's really nothing else to say about this.
6) Honesty
Mainly, you have to be honest with yourself to be happy.
You've to be very honest of what you want in life all the time. As you age, your needs and wants change and hence, your ideas of happiness.
You'd also have to be very honest with your flaws. That's how you deal with your challenges head on and start growing as a person. In that sense, a happy person is a mature person.
Go back to point (4) now. The accomplishments of your life would provide growth. And with growth, comes more happiness.
7) Choice
Last but not least, happiness is a choice.
You have to flick that switch on, that you want to be happy. No one else can make that decision for you.
I know. This is kind of easier-said-than-done. But the main idea here is that you have the power to open up your life to a world of new possibilities, a new reality even.
If you want something different in life, then do something different. If you want to be happy, then turn your life towards it all the time.
The choice is yours. If you can't be happy in life, then what else is there?
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I hope you enjoyed the article!
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Alden Tan keeps it real at his blog and writes about motivation in unconventional ways. His two main passions are Bboying and writing. Check out his free report, 12 Things Happy People Don’t Give a F**k About! The post The 7 Main Elements of Happiness and How To Use Them All appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.