The Road to Happiness
When most people talk about the meaning of happiness, they might be talking about how they feel in the present moment or be referring to a more general sense of how they feel about life overall.
Happiness is something that people seek to find, yet what defines happiness can vary from one person to the next. It’s a state of mind or feeling that is characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment.
Happiness generally tends to have more to do with our reaction to what others do, places we go, things we have, or events that happen. But that doesn’t mean that it is all up to what we have or who we are around. Happiness, in fact, is like a color; in a full painting, it is only one of the colors. In order to enjoy the entire work, you have to experience all of the colors.
Depending on current circumstances, happiness can be difficult to hang on
to. Focus, however, can assist with that feeling. It is said that if you look
directly at something in your path, like a rock in a river, you will most likely
hit it. If, instead, you look in between the rocks and focus on where you want
to go, that is the path you will take. It’s no different from what you choose to think about. If you choose to think about the reasons you can’t do something, don’t like what you’re doing, or are “stuck”, that’s what will impact your mood and whether you are happy. If, instead, you focus on what you DO have, what is going well, or what you enjoy, then your mood will shift to the positive.
When you realize that happiness gets its meaning more from the contrasting
emotions that you experience, you come to find out that sadness, anger,
fear and other emotions tend to make the moments of happiness even better. The key is to find things that make you happy and to focus your thoughts on things to elevate your mood, even when things are not going well.
Remember, you can create the conditions for happiness to flourish. You can
achieve happiness by influencing your circumstances. Happiness is the thing
we want the most for the people we love the most. That’s why it matters so
much.
Published in the October Issue of Healthy Cells-Bloomington/Normal.