What steps can be taken to create internal happiness? I have struggled through much of the last year asking myself this question. I will give you a little insight as to why I asked this question, and what I have found to be true. In addition, to research I have obtained due to the strong desire to find the answers to this question.
Last year I lost three main people in my adult life. My grandmother who passed away from cancer, my grandfather who passed away from old age, and my great-grandmother who passed of a heart attack in her sleep. Although all of these members of my family were older and as they age it is inevitable they will pass away. I struggled with the problems in my relationship with my boyfriend who was not present during these periods of time as well as a job that I was extremely unhappy at. In chronological order, my great-grandmother passed away in January 2013, my grandfather passed away in July of 2013 and my grandmother passed away in November the week before Thanksgiving 2013.
Needless to say, there was a lot of loss in the last twelve months and each had its own significant emotional weight that was left thereafter. There are many points that contribute to what makes an individual happy including genetics, relationships (love), a support system, and happiness in a career. Although, I feel as a whole I am an optimistic person this last year of loss made me feel extremely depressed. And in accordance with that loss, I also had issues with my love relationship because my boyfriend was working out of town and was unable to physically provide the comfort that I wanted through those times.
I struggled with being alone and that was a really eye-opening realization. At work, my boss was putting me down du...
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...ize we are all human! And finally, do what I can in each day to get out and be friendly. Smile daily! If things are getting you down internally, remember the things that bring you happiness no matter how simple they are. Focus on these things, these will brighten a gloomy day.
I have walked through many hard times however, this last year was huge! I have learned that maintaining happiness in one’s life is actually quite simple and the pursuit of happiness lies in every moment. Remember to be thankful for everyday things such as; sunlight, fresh air, and clean water are very easy places to start focusing this gratitude. From a grateful attitude a happier internal dialog is born. Many of the steps to achieving internal happiness especially after significant loss are free, there is more of a priority to obtain control over one’s life internally and externally.
Sharon Begley, author of “Happiness: Enough Already,” proclaims that dejection is not an unacceptable state of mind and there are experts that endorses gloomy feelings. This reading explicates that even though every-one should be happy there is no need to ignore sadness, as both emotions share key parts in everyone’s life. Sharon Begley and her team of specialists provides the information on why sadness is supplemental to a person’s life.
Let’s take a look at how we interact and form relationships. Happy people like being around other happy people. It’s safe to say it is natural to surround ourselves with the kind of people we want to be. Conversly, it is natural for us to retreat and isolate when our health is failing physically or emotionally. One’s social skills are telling of how healthy they are all around. Ideally a person has a nice balance of social time and personal time. We have a good idea who we are and are comfortable being ourselves in all situations. Get involved in your community and give back. Paying it forward is the best medicine next to laughter. Practice the golden rule and treat others as you want to be treated. Respect goes a long way. Know what you are okay with and set boundaries with people so you can develop healthy relationships. These relationships are built on trust, communication, and solving problems together. Maintain these relationships and keep your social support network close and you will live a happy life. Be sure to surround yourself with people who bring you up and encourage you to grow and be a better
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Happiness can be easily defined as the state of well-being and contentment gained by personal life experiences through either direct or indirect connections with the world around us. The people we meet and the trails we go through in life add together to create a hopefully happy life. To be happy in life is indeed the only way to enjoy it. Therefore it’s no wonder that we all strive to achieve this idea of happiness. This interest in the search for true happiness has become a major factor in our modern age. Looking back at our history, the moods of many Americans have seemed to become stagnate even when we experience a rise in salaries and overall life expectance. This begs the question as to what then
The hardest times in your life drown you in pain and desperation, how can any good come of them? As Gilda Radner Said "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity." It's you who makes the choice as to how things go in your life. Disappointments aren't anything to fear there something to look forward to.
Mark G. The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness. New York : Guilford Publications, 2015. Print. In this source four qualified specialists describe how typical endeavors to "think" our way out of a terrible temperament or simply "push our feelings aside" lead us into chronic unhappiness. The author explains how being mindful, confronting and considering your most troublesome feelings and backgrounds, can assist you with breaking the cycle of chronic unhappiness. Part III of the text is titled, "Transforming Unhappiness." In this chapter the text provides the reader with tools on how to become a happier you. This source is potentially useful to my research topic because it is providing the reader with actual tools on how to cease chronic unhappiness. It can also be a guide for ones who are already happy to maintain their happy
Two years and four months ago I died. A terrible condition struck me, and I was unable to do anything about it. In a matter of less than a year, it crushed down all of my hopes and dreams. This condition was the death of my mother. Even today, when I talk about it, I burst into tears because I feel as though it was yesterday. I desperately tried to forget, and that meant living in denial about what had happened. I never wanted to speak about it whenever anyone would ask me how I felt. To lose my Mom meant losing my life. I felt I died with her. Many times I wished I had given up, but I knew it would break the promise we made years before she passed away. Therefore, I came back from the dead determined and more spirited than before.
...orking progress to reach a stage where one can focus on oneself and see the larger picture, as an adventure and experiences. The one secret to actually getting happiness has nothing to do with setting goals or achieving them. To obtain your definition of happiness, firstly, be more optimistic and have a positive outlook on all opportunities and not look for “happy moments,” because “happy moments” can last for so long. All in all, happiness equals appreciating each and every moment for whatever it has to offer, and to add personal values and purpose onto your life. This all might make happiness hard to achieve, but the up side is that happiness can be created in any situation. There are plenty of stories of people facing hardships in their life, but would still find happiness in their family, faith, and career, and the hardships just doesn’t seem too hard after all.
To begin with, anyone can be happy, it all depends on the type of person they are. There are of course they myths of happiness, predictors of happiness, and life satisfaction. Majority people believe myths that there are unhappy times during one’s lifetime, the stress-filled teen years “midlife crisis and then the years of old age” (Myers and Diener 12). In reality, people of all ages unveil that no specific time in their life were they happier or unhappier than others.
Contrary to belief, genuine happiness is very rarely found at the bottom of a shopping basket or on the leather seats of a brand new car. Often we hear the cliché saying “Money can’t buy happiness” but this is in fact true. Whilst the elation and delight brought from finally owning a wanted item is extraordinary, you must remind yourself that your happiness should not become dependant upon your ownership of this item. Being happy is not something you can purchase from a shop or car dealership, it is the way you take on life. Unfortunately, happiness does not have its own aisle at shops and never will.
Achieving long-term personal happiness is possible with hard work and perseverance by using several methods. Understanding and following various steps to have fulfillment can change your life. By consistently following an assortment of important steps, you will develop a life pattern that is generally happy. Many people throughout history have attempted to find ways to become happier, and share the information with others. While there are occasionally things that should make a person unhappy, it is important to not allow unhappiness to become a lifelong pattern that destroys you mentally and physically. In addition, happy people tend to have more friends and success because they are fun to associate with.
In my life time, I have experienced many deaths. I have never had anyone that was very close to me die, but I have shed tears over many deaths that I knew traumatically impacted the people that I love. The first death that influenced me was the death of my grandfather. My grandfather passed away when I was very young, so I never really got the chance to know him. My papaw Tom was my mothers dad, and she was very upset after his passing. Seeing my mom get upset caused me to be sad. The second death that influenced my life was the death of my great grandmother. My great grandmother was a very healthy women her whole life. When she was ninety three she had
When we are young children, we are introduced to the concept of "living happily ever after". This is a fairy-tale emotional state of absolute happiness, where nothing really happens, and nothing even seems to matter. It is a state of feeling good all the time. In fairy tales, this feeling is usually found in fulfilling marriages, royal castles, singing birds and laughing children. In real life, an even-keeled mood is more psychologically healthy than a mood in which you frequently achieve great heights of happiness. Furthermore, when you ask people what makes their lives worth living, they rarely mention their mood. They are more likely to talk about what they find meaningful, such as their work or relationships. Research suggests that if you focus too much on trying to feel good all the time, you’ll actually undermine your ability to ever feel good because no amount of feeling good will be satisfying to you. If feeling good all the time were the only requirement for happiness, then a person who uses cocaine every day would be extremely happy. In our endless struggle for more money, more love and more security, we have forgotten the most fundamental fact: happiness is not caused by possessions or social positions, and can in fact be experienced in any daily activity. We have made happiness a utopia: expensive, complicated, and unreachable.
How could I promote happiness? Of course by beginning with myself. The saying, “10 percent is what happens to us and 90 percent is how we react with it” is one of my favorite. I may not be able to control what will happen to me, but surely, I always have the power over my emotions. In every circumstance, whether it may be good or bad, I must always keep those smiles plastered in my face. I must be thankful to God in whatever things happen for I know He’s always in control of everything.
For instance, when I was a very little kid, happiness was just as simple as eating my favorite candy, getting new toy, or sleeping inside mommy’s warm arm. Then I grew up, the chance to make myself happy seem decreasing. I start messing around with people, getting upset with life, but at the end of the day, no matter how many people I met, how many places I have been through, there is still only one place with those people and I know exactly that I belong to them without being insecure. It’s called family. My happiness is knowing that, through thick and thin, after a long struggle day, I can come back to my family, laugh so hard, and set everything aside because I know, my parents love seeing my smile. Happiness comes from the little thing when you get support from your friends, advice from your family, and their presence in your graduate