What is Happiness?

Hello everyone,

It is 3:00pm on Friday the 17th.
 
   Today I am titling my entry "What is Happiness?" I am calling it this because lately this is something that has become a major focus for me. What are the choices I can make on a daily basis, to lead a happy, healthy, and most importantly, a satisfying life? These choices can be overwhelming and stressful at times, but we only make them more challenging when we begin to dwell on what could have been or what could be. This is the key to dissatisfaction.

   Part of being happy is enjoying your life RIGHT NOW. To do this we must learn to always live in the moment or stay present. This is a challenging concept for many people to grasp, including myself. Why is it so important to always live in the moment? It is important for obvious reasons. (1) Why waste your life wishing and wanting instead of living and loving? (2) You never know if and when you will lose someone or something important in your life. (3) Simply stated by a teacher I once had, "First World Problems". To me this means that no matter how low you get or how challenging your life becomes you always have something that remains good in your life, no matter how small.

   So think about it. What is good in your life RIGHT NOW? When I have those days, where I am feeling so low that I just want to hide and not even get out of bed, what I have learned to do is make a list. First, I write down 10 things I like about myself since self-love is such an important part of being happy, but I will talk about that more on another day. Next, I write down 10 things, or more that I am grateful for. They can be anything; love, friends, and family are all things to be thankful for, but you gotta think outside the box! What are the little thing you enjoy in life that make you happy? I always write things like; bonfires, the feeling you get after a good work out, sitting by the fire on Christmas morning. At first you may feel like writing these things down is a waste of time but after a while of doing it everyday you will notice a difference. You just have to have patience.

   Lastly I wanna talk about why it's okay to not be really happy all the time, and why it's okay to be simply satisfied. Being happy all the time is not real. People always think that if they're lives aren't perfect that something needs to change. So often those people resort to artificial happiness; meaning searching for happiness in material things. In fact, a documentary called Happy by Roko Belic proves that those who have less are often more satisfied with their lives. So don't go searching for a deeper meaning. The key to having a satisfying life is simpler than you think.

   SO thats all for this week. Thank y'all for reading. Have a good week! :)