Happiness is a choice
Happiness the ultimate goal of humanity. Humans have two goals in life the first is survival and second is happiness or personal fulfilment. Whether you want to take drugs, get freakishly rich, fuck many people or live as a hermit in the woods it all stems from the desire to feel good or at least not to feel bad. Still the majority of humans seem to struggle with happiness.
We put to many requirements for happiness in place thinking we have to make x amount of money, get with a 10/10 partner, work until we retire or have a vacation to feel good. This isn’t against making a lot of money or achieving the things mentioned before. All of them can be pursuable goals but if we don’t enjoy the pursuit and our life, we will become miserable. In the end we die anyway and we take nothing with us except our memories. The thing is just be happy. Happiness is an emotion a subjective feeling of our mind and we can alter our emotions to some degree. If you are happy you will love life no matter the circumstances. You get positive memories from all activities and you will look back on your life in joy and gratitude. Happiness is a practice, a habit like lifting weights. You have to have a goal, the goal of happiness and act every day to enhance it. What you can do to increase your happiness may be different. For me it´s spending time in nature, exploring, spending time with people I like. For you it could be driving a fast car or taking drugs. As long as you reflect on the consequences of your actions and you look back with pride on your past life you are good to go.
Emotions are like weather if you are depended on good weather you will waste half of the days.
Don’t waste your life in the pursuit of happiness instead of being happy. You will fall easy into this trap. Recently I have revisited a dream of mine, to travel the trans-Siberian railway from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. A train ride through the whole of Russia to the literal end of the world. I felt excited and thrilled to go on this adventure, but with the current political situation in Russia this trip just isn’t possible. It felt frustrating to be blocked off from my dream. But I have two options to deal with this situation I could say to myself I won´t be happy until I make this trip in a few years or I can be happy anyway even though things don’t work out like I would’ve wanted them too. With the later I can make the best out of the current situation postponing my dream to the future while simultaneously living in the present moment using it to the fullest extend I am capable of so I can look back and be glad not to have waste my time.
“Just keep livin” - Matthew McConaughey
Sometimes if we push dreams into the future and become emotionally detached from them we realize how little we actually want them. We won´t know what we want in 5 or 10 years our circumstances and world view change a lot. A few years ago, I made this experience myself during the Fortnite prime time. I remember that the biggest dreams back then were certain skins in the shop. I waited impatiently until those skins were dropped and I could finally buy them. But as a little 14year old kid I sometimes didn´t have the money or wasn´t able to buy skins in the video game. Though this wasn´t bad at all the day later when the skins weren´t available for purchase anymore I haven´t felt the need to have them anymore. My dreams became irrelevant because I weren´t emotionally invested in them anymore. I thought ingame cosmetics were necessary for my happiness but they weren´t.
Success leads to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success.
When you feel good you get a boost in energy, your stress levels decrease and you will get more joy from life. We create a cycle where happiness leads to success and the success induces more happiness.
Happiness leads to success either because you enjoy the process or you inspire positivity and success in other people. Happiness is like an aura and a happy person spreads joy to all people around them. The same goes for sadness but a sad person just repels everyone. If you are happy you will draw people close to you, resulting in more friendships.
The concept I want to drive at is that happiness is a choice. Happiness is not the result of outside circumstances but your internal worldview your mindset. You decide how you see the world whether the glass is half full or half empty. You decide your fate, your emotions and ultimately the quality of your life. A happier life is an easier life. Practice seeing the positive sides of life the small details which inspire you and make you happy. Don’t overthink, just live.
Remember, life’s rewards the prepared
