Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. And it is perhaps the primary goal most of us seek in this life. We all want to be happy. But what is it that make us happy? Researcher have suggested a number of things including (in no particular order):
1. Personal safety and security
2. Good health
3. Freedom to direct one’s life
4. Close and harmonious relationships
5. A spiritual practice
6. Financial stability
7. Low unemployment
8. Access to education
9. Leisure time
10. Low Income Equality
11. Living according to certain principles (open-mindedness, courage, kindness, love, fairness, forgiveness, humour, and appreciation)
Others in the positive psychology discipline and in buddhism have talked about how happiness is a learned behaviour. I would tend to agree with all of these ideas but add that a sense of sufficiency is at the root of lasting happiness. If we feel complete or sufficient inside, we will tend to feel happy, no matter what the external circumstances, including wealth, family, education, security etc.. If we feel sufficient, we will tend to be happy no matter what principles we live by, although we will tend to be open-minded, courageous, kind and loving, fair, forgiving, humourous, and appreciative. Happiness is a choice, which tends to derive from a sense of sufficiency and the more we are in touch with our sufficiency, the more we tend to choose happiness. There is no research to support this claim other than my own experience but the connection merits some objective exploration in the future.
Clues for where the passion or happiness come in life is our senses; pay attention to what you see, what you hear, what you touch, what you say, what you smell and what touched you….could be more. These signals bring us to our own personal joy. The outside world offers any numbers of ways to bring one to this…or forget what is offered you and wander with your senses and find what comes to you; this is your personal experience and each of us has our own. The buffet of opportunities is out there, but they are offered to you – you didn’t find them on your own. Make your happiness your journey through your senses.
Comment by JM — May 17, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Good point Joan. Our senses are the door way to experience. Observing the world with these senses without judgement is perhaps the surest way to appreciation, happiness and abundance.
Comment by Editor — May 20, 2011 at 9:39 am