If deeper thinking is being done it is obvious that happiness can exist only in the present time, regardless the circumstances – Everyone can be happy now.
Yet we are raised in a belief system which favors a different rationale – that we will be happy when we are finished with our goal, when we reach a certain destination, when we have the certain amount of money, status or whatnot…
And such thinking quickly leads towards discrepancy between our potential for experiencing happiness and how happy we really are.
The four truths about happiness
If we think about it, happiness is the ultimate currency in life. Any which way we try to spin it. And the realization which is somewhat funny is that we know very little about it.
No one teaches us how to be happy, school curriculums offer nothing that can make us understand and learn more about it, it’s not a priority in how we decide to condition ourselves sort to speak.
The truths about it, we learned and know from intuition. And these are:
- Happiness is the ultimate purpose in life
- Happiness is achievable, for all of us
- Happiness is determined more by our minds than our circumstances
- The disciplines that will lead to, and enhance happiness can be learned and mastered, with practice.
Regarding the first one we can discuss to the lengths of exhaustion, but truth remains that in one way or another we all aim towards happiness – In almost anything that we do.
Learning how to be happy now is achievable, and all that is required is practice.
As for the third Shakespeare said it best:
”…for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” ~ Shakespeare
So what needs to be done in order to achieve happiness is to master the habits and discipline oneself into feeling happy. Only first, a slight change in perception is needed.
The ultimate goal of personal development
This next sentence is meaty enough as to fit between the covers of a book all by itself. I may not have the proper words nor know a more subtle way of saying it, but the message alone, regardless of the way we say it, conveys volumes of wisdom; And not the same wisdom you will find in old chestnuts, but rather more pragmatic, more holistic one.
“It is the journey that matters, not the destination – hence we call it personal development, not personal achievement.”
If we want to learn how to be happy now, understanding the above statement is imperative. Be happy with what you have now, what you do now, what you are now, for there will always be only now.
And when we learn to enjoy the process of improvement it becomes infinite. And what is more important, happiness transforms from something illusive, something we needed circumstances and certain scenarios to condition it, into something tangible, something we can access at any moment.
The ultimate goal of personal development is just that – to make us realize that the process of improvement and the now is all that we have.
The time to be happy is now
If you take a minute and start contemplating about your own life you will come to realize that every perception you have about happiness is conditioned in one way or another. In this regard we are all the same, me and you as much as the next guy.
And that is really a sad realization – that we need an X set of circumstances as to allow us to be happy.
And the often misunderstood truth is that we can only gauge at how happy we will be after achieving something, completing something, getting something…
We never know for sure.
“If I only look like this I will be happy.”
“If I only had this I would be happy.”
“If…”
How can you know that for sure?
I mean, how many times you’ve reached a certain destination only to find out that it was not what you hoped for it to be. That it was not your “golden ticket” to happiness.
From my part, every statistic I can come up with when I take a retrospective look back convinces me in what I wrote above, and what many people way smarter than me have concluded before me.
And that is that if we chase happiness it will always be behind the next corner. And the pursuit would turn in a chase around the maypole – bound to repeat itself both in delusion as well as results.
How to be happy now
Happiness is a state of mind, and as all states of mind it needs to be conditioned by what we do, how we behave, what we believe in.
That means that we can all learn how to be happy now if we devote ourselves to constituting habits and practices that will allow us to experience that state of happiness. Here are some quickies when it comes to it.
1. To be happy now, first of all, means devoting on the now.
As the old adage goes – the future is a mystery, the past history, and all we have is now.
It was something in these lines if I remember correct.And naïve as it might sound, the takeaway is rather simple – we live in the now hence we experience in the now. So if happiness is about to be part of our lives we need to start inviting it into the now, into the present.
We need to start feeling it rather than seeking it. Learning how to live in the moment is crucial here.
2. Intentional living without doubt leads towards happiness.
When we see the reason in almost everything that we do, and intentionally act, rather than react, all of the sudden things gain huge amount of purpose. And purposeful living has the power to make us happy quite a bit.
3. Accept what you have now and what you are now – but strongly believe that it will all progress.
You see, many people think that acceptance of oneself is the ultimate recipe for happiness.What many others have experienced on the other hand is that acceptance leads nowhere if there is not the strong belief that it can always go towards better.
4. Our inherent nature dictates this urge of moving and changing.
Hence reaching a destination makes us happy only if we continue moving forward. That’s why the emphasis on the journey instead of the destination.
Happiness does not come as a result of achieving something, reaching something, having something. It comes only as a result of having a habit to experience it, to recognize it, to feel it constantly.
To be happy now is the only way to be happy, and we are all entitled to it. Forget the ifs, be happy now.