As mentioned last post, I am kicking off a new post series on the most common human emotions: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Surprise, Disgust, Love, Jealousy, Anxiety, and Excitement. I hope I can bring some insight and breakdown of probably the most sought-after quality in this life: Happiness.
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
This description by Gandhi is one of many ways to think of happiness because in reality, happiness may have universal qualities we yearn for, but it is highly personal too. How about this take from Emerson:
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
Or this one from the great Roman Emperor:
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
Happiness is a quality to look for not only in yourself, and that which makes you happy, but in those close to you.
Very Well Mind defines happiness as such:
Typically, happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. While happiness has many different definitions, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction.
The way I like to define happiness in my own experience here on this short yet exciting ride called life is less characterized by a set of things achieved or obtained, but rather a feeling developed through suffering:
Happiness is the short yet sweet realization that the breath flowing in and out of your lungs is a gift of divine intervention.
Without the (literally perfect) conditions of this planet, we wouldn’t have a “breath” to breathe, balanced at about 71% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen, we live on a miracle spinning at roughly 1,000 mph and tilted at exactly 23.45 degrees on its axis.
It’s absolutely incredible we are walking, talking, and doing anything really on this rare rock.
All that was mentioned to strengthen the notion that we are experiencing a time and place in this universe at just the right moment. We are walking, talking, and breathing miracles.
That realization, if nothing else comes of this life, is enough to be happy.
Happiness is a choice. It blows my mind when I find that some of the happiest people on earth live with the least amount of luxuries, proving that all the niceties of life actually get in the way of a nice life.
This doesn’t mean that creating a happy life is easy by any means, there are days in fact when it seems impossible, but that’s where mindfulness comes in.
Being mindful of the smallest joys, the tiniest gains, and the crumbs of hope can release dopamine and serotonin in impactful ways. These two chemicals work together in miraculous ways to regulate our emotions and responses to different situations, contributing to our overall sense of happiness and well-being.
Well then, what can I do to be happy you may ask?
There is no straight answer and no right path to happiness because it’s highly personal. To me, happiness is people. Meeting new people, spending quality time with quality people, and flying halfway across the world to see people.
But for a good friend of mine, it’s a sport, he absolutely loves teamwork and sportsmanship and getting involved in all kinds of games, and though he also loves people, it’s striving for a win, for success that makes him happy.
Although there is no single recipe for happiness, just as there is no recipe for depression, there underlies a way to increase what does make us happy, and it’s oh so simple!
Yes, you guessed correctly, it’s mindfulness!
It starts with practicing awareness and committing to at least 10-20 minutes a day to center the mind and body, asking how you feel constantly.
Then with the foundation of awareness, we can identify and jot down those things that bring a true sense of happiness and just do more of those things.
Oh, and you can chuck out all those self-help happiness guides because what provides a sense of happiness, contentment, and life satisfaction is right in front of us.
It’s all around us, it’s the small, seemingly insignificant moments when someone is kind to us or gifts a smile, it’s the compliment of our clothing or the touch of a friend. Happiness is here and now.