When you go to your “happy place,” you might picture yourself relaxing on a beach in Bali, fitting back into a pair of favorite old jeans, or landing that promotion you’ve been gunning for. But here’s the thing: Elation, achievement, and success aren’t the same as the warm and fuzzy feelings of happiness — and mixing them up may actually bum you out.
Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness. The “pursuit of happiness” is something this country is based on, and different people feel happiness for different reasons. Whenever doing something causes happiness, people usually want to do more of it. No one ever complained about feeling too much happiness.
For many, happiness is not a feeling, but a state of mind. The first step to discovering this state of mind may be looking for joy in the small moments.
It has been said that gratitude is related to happiness. When you make a consistent effort to define what you are grateful for, you begin to see joy in the little things in life. Things as simple as a traffic-free commute or an unexpectedly good weather day may be normally overlooked, but when you acknowledge them and are grateful, you realize just how happy you can be in the world.
The key to realizing these moments of happiness is to slow down and be present for them. There is no happy app that you can download on your phone, but instant gratification can still be realized; all you must do is look around.
Having a positive mindset is linked to happiness in many different areas. This makes sense, because if you are always looking at the downside of things, it will of course be difficult to be happy or joyful.
There are a ton of happiness articles out there that claim the key to happiness is opening your mind or smiling more. While this may be partly true, if your mindset doesn’t align with what you are searching for it still may be difficult to find happiness in life. You must make an honest effort to look at the bright side of things in order to protect your joy.
