Happiness Is Personal
"No one can tell you how to be happy. It’s too complex, too transitory to be subject to precise directions. It comes and goes. It depends on how your life evolves.
Maybe you were happy in college, but then law school, a job, and a mortgage left you wondering: Where’d it all go? In fact, Albert Camus mused that just looking for happiness (and trying to define what it is) keeps you from being happy. For him, happiness sort of happens, without self-consciousness, without investigating possible states of being. Maybe you’ll get lucky.
While I can’t prescribe what might make you happy, I think you can (with some help) discover happiness. You can make choices that fit your own needs. You can ramp up your self-awareness as you begin defining what happiness can be—specifically, your own. And with a nod to Camus, you can embrace the notion that happiness is often the reward for delayed gratification: We’re not happy, and then finally we are, partly because it’s okay to let up on trying so hard. Thus, any happiness “prescription” starts with helping each person to find their own way."
*Happiness is something that many of us think we can just keep searching for and we will find it, like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way. Trying to find happiness can actually make you more unhappy! You don't want to force anything, but you have to try and find happiness in the little things. Happiness is relative, too. What makes you happy may not make someone else happy and that's okay! I think what makes me really happy are nice long naps! What is something that makes you happy that is personal to you?*
#Happiness #Individuality #EveryoneIsDifferent
The full article is available at Psychology Today.
Do something that makes you happy today! ❤️
@fruityPond7887 I agree. Everyone has their own definition of happiness. Something that makes me happy is spending time with my family and friends. Nothing can beat the feeling of having loved ones around me.
@comfortableNight4463 I am the same way! Nothing is more important to me than my loved ones ❤️ Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
@fruityPond7887 You're welcome!
@fruityPond7887, that's what I'm saying, the fact that I like death is perfectly fine, they can't tell me what to like
How do we know that something makes us happy if we haven't experienced it? This is why I think coupled with this thought is the need to go out there and explore life! Fail, succeed, question and try again, then one would know for sure what that happiness looks like. 😊
@BrightandGentleHand I love this perspective! Life is about failing and getting back up to truly discover what it means to live! Failure teaches us to be resilient and tough when life doesn't go the way we plan and we all know that life isn't always going to be perfect! 💪
@fruityPond7887
I agree you can't set out for a 'serious' search to find happiness. I don't think I've ever done that. It's counter intuitive. I agree, searching for it can actually make you unhappy.
When I get to the point where part of my grieving turns into remembering a moment together that was precious. That gives me a warm sense of quiet happy in my heart.
@EmbStitcher33 That's a really great sign to know that you are healing and everything is going to be okay! Grief is such a complex emotion and there is no right way to heal. Some of us will take longer to heal and that's okay. I think we can also grieve and be happy at the same time. Life is complicated and so are feeling, but we just have to go with the flow of everything. <3
This was really helpful 😌. Lately I just have been wondering what is happiness? When was the last time I was really happy? This article is really reassuring ❤️
@lonelymay Aw I am so glad to hear that you found this piece comforting ❤️ Happiness is a complex thing because everyone is a bit different as to what makes them happy, so I don't think there's right or wrong answer. You have to find the little things in everyday that makes you happy and I think that's what's most important.
Agreed 🤍