Happiness, seems to be the new buzz word. A plethora of workshops are being conducted on this subject and suddenly the pursuit of happiness has become a big business.
It makes one wonder if happiness is a physical or an internal trait? Can you be taught to be happy, or is it a genetic predisposition? At the end of these workshops would you really come out feeling happy or would it be a momentary sense of euphoria that dies down after a few days?
You probably could, if you understand yourself and change the role you play. Stephen Covey, believes that happiness comes from inside-out, he says, "In all my experience, I have never seen lasting solutions to problems, lasting happiness and success come from the outside-in”.
People are the happiest when they can pursue something that they are good at. Happiness comes, not from possessing things, but from doing things that we find enjoyable. For pure joy, the activities that we undertake, should be a little difficult and challenging. On the other hand, if the work is too difficult, then we might end up feeling inadequate. We have to be realistic about our ratio of expectations to accomplishments and set our goals accordingly, neither too low nor too high but completely based on our strengths and our ability to scale up.
Happy people are clear about what they can do and have done, they don’t dismiss their achievements and don’t feel envious and bad if somebody else achieves more, if something goes wrong they approach it in a positive way.
If we enjoy what we do, it’s fun and it offers us a chance for personal growth and at the same time boosts our self-esteem, then we are self-fulfilled and happy. Sixty-year-old Prema, suffering from a type of muscular dystrophy, has been confined to a wheelchair for more than five years, one would think that she would be feeling awful and unhappy, but, on the contrary she is one of the happiest people I know. The reason is because she and her friends are busy making other people happy. Lively and cheerful, she enjoys her banter and charity work.
Research has supported the fact that happy people live longer than unhappy ones.
So how do you become happy?
• Setting realistic, appropriate and attainable goals. This will give our lives some meaning and keep us mentally and physically alert. Doing things for others, unconditionally increases your self-esteem and you feel good and happy.
• Improving Interpersonal skills. Individuals having a wide group of friends and a large social circle are happier than those with fewer friends.
• Learning something new. Upgrading and upskilling yourself enrolling for some new courses and completing it makes you feel good.
• Being Optimistic. This is the ability to look at the brighter side of life, despite adversity, being hopeful, resilient and cheerful.
Be with happy people. The brain has an “open loop” system, so we are wired to pick up subtle clues from one another. So happiness is contagious.