What is happiness? There is no such thing as one right answer to this seemingly simple question.So many men, so many minds! One believes he will become happy as soon as he becomes wealthy while another wants nothing but his family. I’m happy every time my little daughter smiles, and my friend is happy with her career. We all understand happiness in a different way, but all of us want to be happy.
To be happy is both simple and difficult at the same time. It is difficult because in order to become happy you have to know some conditions (we’re going to describe them a bit later). Another difficulty is that we are sure that happiness is hard-hitting. We are used to thinking that we have to overcome lots of difficulties so to speak to deserve to be happy.Thus, the philosopher Bertrand Russell said: “Happiness must be, for most men and women, an achievement rather than a gift of the gods.”And we start to struggle for happiness, we can’t believe in it when it’s easily accessible. Manny Smith from Netbet.org can’t agree with this and neither can other people in that industry. Now let’s ask some of the more influential people in our past what to do to be happy.
- If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. Albert Einstein
Define what happiness means for you, what things fill you with joy and make you laugh. You may even make a list of the things you can’t do without. You may like sitting with your friends in the café on Sunday noon or watching a video with your close friend in the evening. And maybe shopping, a new book or even your work are just the things that give you energy and the will to live. Check your list from time to time to see how often you do your favourite things and think what prevents you from doing them.
- Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life. Omar Khayyam
Another great philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca said: “True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” During the day listen to your thoughts and you may realize that you are recalling what has happened before or thinking about future events. We either remember the past or dream of the future. We should live there and then.
- The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. Eric Hoffer
Searching for happiness is like chasing the bird, which is flying high in the sky, and which nobody has ever seen. There is also saying“The grass is GREENER on the other side of the fence.” We are looking for happiness where it could not be. The more we are searching for happiness the unhappier we are. Happiness is around us!“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.”-James Openheim
- Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems. Epictetus
Stop worrying about everything and anything! Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who together with her family helped many Jews to escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II,said: “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
- The way to happiness is: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, give much. Fill your life with love. Do as you would be done by. Buddha
These are the essential things. Envy and hatred destroy our life. They make us ill and miserable. That being said, there’s a reason why envy is one of the seven deadly sins in Christianity. The Bible says, “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.”
So, I will close with this.Thegreat Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, once said, “If you want to be happy, be.”