If you have been looking and wondering for a while you have probably heard the phrase ‘the power is within you’ a few times at least. So what does it really mean?
Does it mean you have a super power?
Yes and no.
It doesn’t mean you will suddenly have super strength or go flying through the air. You do however have the power to be truly happy.
Sound like a pipe dream to you? This is where you reflect upon your life as it is and decide I must be making this up. People think they will be happy when they reach a particular goal, such as bigger house/car/better holidays/get a raise/get promoted/get a better job or even lose a certain amount of weight. Sound familiar?
So what is Happiness?
We literally waste years and years waiting for happiness to appear. For the circumstances to be right, the stars to align, the kids to appear, then to grow up. For all the studies, reports and books on it, true happiness seems to elude most people. They literally live their whole life either searching for it or waiting for it to appear.
Wikipedia says:
- The term happiness is used in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It is also used in the context of life satisfaction, subjective well-being, eudaimonia, flourishing and well-being.
- Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including gerontology, social psychology and positive psychology, clinical and medical research and happiness economics.
Is True Happiness Possible?
Those that struggle in life and have many challenges like to claim that true happiness is a myth. Some prefer to always be negative and are happy, in their own way, being unhappy.
There are different levels of happiness that you can experience at different times according to what is happening in your life. There will always be ups and downs in life but whether you are happy or not is not dependant upon circumstances and events that occur. It isn’t dependant upon the people n your life or any material things you own either.
As a human being you can experience a variety of feelings and emotions, happiness is one of them, so you know that true happiness can and does exist. Think about your life, you can probably come up with quite a list of times when you have been happy.
Look Around You
It’s amazing but while it’s easy to say that people cannot be happy unless they have their basic needs met, you’ll find that there are people all around you who do not have their needs met but who are very happy. This proves to be true when you look at wealthy people and realise that though they have everything they want and need, they are not any happier than many poorer people.
It’s Not About Taxes or Money
Look at lists of the happiest countries round the world and you will soon realise that being happy isn’t about the stuff you have. The happiest country for the third year running is Finland, in second place is Denmark with Switzerland in third place. Here in the UK we are in 13th place, while the US ranks at 18th on the list for 2020.
Despite high taxes in both Finland and Denmark they have come out top, yet in other countries with lower tax they complain a lot about having to pay tax.
Is it about Goals?
You may well think that happiness is about reaching your goals too. But, it’s not. If you often say things like “I’ll be happy when…” then it’s very unlikely you will be happy any time soon.
Most of us say things like: I will be happy when I reach that weight, amount of savings, when I have a bigger house/car/better furniture/afford better or more holidays …. The list can go on and on. Does that sound familiar?
Yes? Do we really want to live like that always putting our happiness on hold for some future goal? You can be happy today, right now, before you reach your goals, while you’re on the path to reach those goals. The chances are that you will reach them sooner if you are happy.
It really is more about the day to day living and not the goals we constantly strive to reach.
What About Circumstances?
Now, of course, there are some things in life can really get you down. An unpleasant shock, an unpleasant event or a scary happening can temporarily take away the feeling of happiness. However, even the worst events will not make happy people unhappy for long. Because a happy person generally has the skills to navigate the things that concern their circumstances.
So where is it found?
True happiness is about accepting that you really can experience it and understanding what it really means.
Happiness comes from within, which of course you know. You have probably read that hundreds of times if you are an avid happiness seeker. But did you really take it on board? Did you really understand it?
There is no experience, person or material object that can give you real happiness!
WHAT? REALLY? How can that be true?
Happiness comes from within and is a choice.
It can be hard to change the way we think to allow us to make that choice.
Gratitude can create happiness. Read HERE!
In following posts we will be exploring ways we can do exactly that.
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