Later this month, I am honored to join a wonderful group of people for the World Happiness Summit as a coach and tribe facilitator.
What is the World Happiness Summit you say?
The World Happiness Summit (WOHASU) is the inaugural gathering of the brightest thought leaders and innovators for a three-day experiential conference co-created with the United Nations for the International Day of Happiness dedicated to helping make happiness and well-being a choice around the world.
Not surprisingly with all this talk of happiness, my mind has been focusing even more than usual on the subject.
- What is happiness?
- How do we find it?
- What keeps us from being happy?
Those are deep questions I know, but also very important ones. I never claim to have all the answers, but I will happily share my thoughts with you.
What Is Happiness?
Happiness is the ultimate example of “your mileage may vary”. It is something different for every individual. For some, it is family. For others, it is doing meaningful work and service to others. For some, it is a combination of both along with an innumerable collection of other things, both large and small. Whatever the components may be for you individually, it all leads back to what gives you that deep feeling of joy and contentment in your life.
The Dalai Lama XIV once said that “I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy,” and I fully subscribe to that idea. I truly believe that our ultimate goal as humans on this planet is to be happy and share that happiness with others. In trying times, it can feel difficult to see life that way, but if we allow ourselves to keep even the spark of that goal in our lives, we can always find our way back to it.
How Do We Find Happiness?
Happiness sometimes feels like an elusive carrot dangling frustratingly out of reach. However, in my opinion, happiness is actually the closest thing to us because it comes from within. We have a choice to allow happiness into our lives.
I know with bills to pay, families to keep together, spirituality to understand, and careers that seem stagnant, it may feel that happiness and choice are an oxymoron. We all face pain and suffering in our lives, and I know from my own experience that suffering at times hits us to a seemingly emotionally and physically crippling degree. Still, my personal experiences have also shown me that in the end, happiness is a choice I eventually had to make. Yes, circumstances may change that remove the direct source of distress, but even when that external relief comes, we all still must decide whether or not we will allow ourselves to move forward from that pain internally.
How many people do you know who have allowed past pains and slights to carry forward into the present? In what aspects of your life might you be doing the same?
Happiness is the quintessential example of living in the present because it allows us to live in this moment knowing that everything that has been was for a purpose, and everything to come will work out as it is meant to for our benefit in one way or the other. Yes, happiness is indeed a choice, even though it doesn’t always feel that way.
What keeps us from being happy?
Look in the mirror.
We keep ourselves from being happy because ultimately, we are responsible for our own thoughts and actions.
How do I find happiness?
For this one I will look once again to the wisdom of the Dalai Lama XIV:
"The three factors that seem to have the greatest influence on increasing our happiness are our ability to reframe our situation more positively, our ability to experience gratitude, and our choice to be kind and generous."
Sage advice that, while easier said than done sometimes, is still completely within our capacity to achieve.