Take time to meditate, or say a prayer, thanking almighty God for all you have. A spiritual dimension is an essential component of happiness.
Can Money Buy You Happiness?
A lot of people share a fairly common misconception. They believe that having lots of money can make you happy. Some even say that the more money you have, the happier you can be. Others believe that having money is not spiritually or socially acceptable, and that money is the root cause of all evil. Are any of these beliefs really true? To answer this question, begin by asking yourself what money means to you, and how do you treat it when you have it?Depending on how it is used, money can create powerful, positive changes in the world. Having money allows us to function more easily in the world, it buys food, clothes, provides comfort in our lives and in the lives of others. However, because attachment to money is based on fear, it always creates insecurity.
The desire to have more money, and thereby feel more secure, never ends. Security can never come from money alone. Some of the people who have the most money are also the most insecure. Does this mean you must give up the desire to attain wealth?
Not necessarily:
In and of itself money is neither good nor bad. It is what we choose to do with money that determines if it will have a positive effect on others, society, the world, and ourselves.
So, it cannot be said that money is essential for happiness. But, most people recognize that money is important in the 21st Century because it can give people comfort and freedoms. But, does raising a nation's income, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), raise the population's overall level of happiness?
Intuitively, you'd think the answer is a definite yes. However, a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal found otherwise. Other studies also show that, in many countries, "although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust." For example, since World War II, GDP per capita in the U.S. has tripled, but life satisfaction (measured by surveys that ask something like, "overall, how satisfied are you with your life?") has barely changed.Also Japan and Western Europe had a tremendous rise in GDP per capita since 1958, yet measures of national happiness have been flat. One reason may be that a rising economy produces rising aspirations. There are many villages in the world where people do not own shoes but the people are extremely happy and friendly.
Being happy is really a choice we make:
The secret of Happiness is simple: You decide if you want to be happy! We all strive for happiness in life. Like many, you probably think achievements such as education, marriage, family and social/financial status make you happy. However, studies of happiness in several countries have found that these achievements have little to do with your happiness. For millions of people, happiness has remained a rather elusive goal. They've tried to buy happiness. They've sought it through materialistic and pleasurable activities such as buying a new SUV or going on vacation. But nothing has seemed to work. For most people these changes, new possessions or temporary pleasures, might work for a while but will eventually become part of your status quo, and their power to deliver happiness will fade. Researchers now strongly believe that your brains is hard-wired in ways that, at least to some degree, determine just how happy you're going to be. Some psychologists believe happiness is genetic. Other scientists say they may have located an important area of the brain where happiness is generated. As powerful as these genetic predispositions may be, happiness is still partly within your control, says David Myers, PhD, the John Dirk Werkman Professor of Psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. "It's rather like our cholesterol level -- genetically influenced, yet also influenced by our habits and attitudes."While these ideas are debated, you don’t have to wait to begin discovering happiness within yourself. You see happiness comes from your social relationships, enjoyable work, fulfillment, high self-esteem, a sense that your life has meaning, and joining civic and other groups. Your life is sprinkled with ample opportunities for discovering happiness. Search for the small things that give you a little laugh or a smile. Take time to be with your family and friends. In the long run, these are the treasures that will enhance your happiness, not some grand achievements that only give you a lift for a short while.
One way to steer your life toward happiness is simply to count your blessings. Happy people know that they don't get to be happy all the time. They can appreciate brief moments, little victories, small miracles, and the personal interactions that bring real happiness. Research has proven that happy people live longer, are healthier, are more successful, enjoy more fulfilling relationships, earn more money, and are liked and respected more.
What are you really looking for in life?
Once you look deeper, beyond your desire for a bigger house or a fancier car, you will most likely discover that what you’re truly searching for is not more “stuff,” but more happiness, more joy.It may seem some people are born with enjoyment for life programmed into their hardwiring, whereas for others finding happiness seems an elusive goal. But, like any programming, yours can be changed.
Here are just a few simple tips that can help you rewrite your life program into one that is filled with joy.
1. Experiment to find out what makes you happy:
If you haven’t taken the time to explore what brings joy to your life on a regular basis, you may realize you don’t even know what brings you happiness anymore. If that’s the case, try out different things, including some you’ve never done before. The answers just might surprise you.
2. Focus on gratitude:
Incorporate a daily gratitude session where you identify something you are grateful for. You can express your gratitude in any number of ways: silently say “thank you,” call or email the person you want to thank, or devise your own gratitude ritual.
3. Take time to savor life:
Resolve to cut down on the rushing from one thing to the next – delegate or say no – to reduce your number of appointments and daily tasks.
4. Stop watching and reading depressing news:
In the beginning you may worry that you’ll miss something, but think about it – when was the last time you truly needed to know the things covered in the daily news. Being selective about the information you expose yourself to can have an incredible impact on your level of personal happiness.
5. Laugh now!
When you’re in the middle of a mess, look around you and realize the absurdity of the moment. Remind yourself that a year from now, no one will care, and you’ll probably be laughing about it anyway, so why wait? Laugh about it now!
Happiness is important for so many reasons, beyond the obvious fact that most people would prefer to be happy rather than not. There is little doubt about the powerful effects positive emotions can have on your physical health and well-being. At the same time, there is equally little doubt about the effects that negative emotions can have on you. Happiness will not only protect your body from stressors that can lead to coronary heart disease, but it can even boost your immune system‘s ability to fight off the common cold.For many, “happiness” is far too nebulous a term. Do you struggle to define an activity that truly makes you happy? If so, here’s a new definition that nearly everyone can easily grasp and apply.
“Happiness” can more accurately be identified by your brain as whatever gets you excited.It is what makes you JUMP out of bed in the morning with eager anticipation to start your day. Once you identify that activity, whatever it is, you can start to focus on it, and structure you life to do more of that.
How to be Happier With What You Have
Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.”
In other words, if you are striving to be more successful, more joyous or more anything, it doesn’t mean you have to feel dissatisfied with your life right now.
In fact, you can be ambitious and content at the same time, and this Lifehack article has some great suggestions to do so, such as:
1. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket: Keep your interests diversified so one slip up won’t throw you off track.
2. Engineer your day: Experiment with changes in how you spend your time that can make your day more interesting, fun or fulfilling.
3. Break comparisons: Try not to compare yourself to others. Base your satisfaction on your life only.
The more you focus your mind on the joyful things in your life right now, the more frequently you will experience joy. Of course, the opposite also holds true, so if you focus on what you don’t have, then you will continually feel like your life is lacking something.
Your happiness is not tied to any material possession or external achievement, yet many people mistakenly intertwine their ability to be happy with such things. You may feel you can’t be happy until you buy a bigger house, get your Ph. D, become a size zero, or become extremely wealthy, but this is quite far from the truth. These things will not make you happy. Only YOU can make you happy.
Quite simply, you have the power to decide to be happy, right now, exactly as your life is at this moment.If you need more inspiration to feel good about what you have right now, these Simple Secrets to Happiness will help you see that your life can easily be filled with joy.Researchers may have found a way to help people see the bigger, broader picture:
Positive emotions:
In this study, researchers asked a group of nearly 90 students to watch one of three video genres: horror to induce anxiety, comedy to induce joy and laughter or "neutral" to have no effect on emotions. After viewing one of the three movies, the students were then shown 28 yearbook-style photos of college-aged people in random order for 500 milliseconds.
Findings showed:
Students who watched the comedy had much higher positive emotions, while those who viewed the horror movie had far more negative emotions.
In a testing phase, more images passed by and students were asked to acknowledge whether or not they had seen the photos earlier -- those in a positive mood had a far greater ability to recognize members of another race, while their ability to recognize members of their own race remained the same.
It was concluded that negative emotions create a "tunnel vision" view of the world, whereas positive emotions (i.e. joy, humor and happiness) promote big-picture thinking and allow one to become more inclusive and detail-oriented. Also, positive emotions allow one to think in terms of "us" rather than "them."
Humor is a powerful tool
This study is yet another example of how conventional medicine is starting to develop a greater appreciation of the strong connection between physical and emotional health.Humor is a powerful tool and can radically improve your immune system and total health. The classic connection between humor and health is probably the 1979 best-selling book, "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration," written by Norman Cousins.
In the 1960s Cousins had an experience that changed his life. He was stricken with a crippling and life-threatening collagen disease. Cousins followed a regimen of high doses of vitamin C and positive emotions (including daily doses of belly laughter), all in consultation and partnership with his sometimes-skeptical physicians. In short, his regime worked remarkably well.
Using Humor to Approach Serious SituationsHumor can also be used to improve your marriage. There are, of course, a whole host of "typical" issues (both non-clinical and clinical) that husbands and wives encounter with one another that, when both can view them through a humorous light versus anger or offense, will help significantly to move both toward understanding and acceptance.One classic example for men is impotency, which is a serious issue but for which many men and couples have dealt with a sense of humor. Humor doesn't reduce the seriousness of such an issue, but instead provides a far healthier way to approach it than anger (or silence).
University of Michigan News Service, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.orgAdd this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
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