Happiness
Happiness is experiencing a feeling that comes over you when you feel good or contented.
So, what makes you happy? Is it the promise of a special treat or a holiday that delivers happiness or are you aware of experiencing happiness without the event being extraordinary?
Being able to find happiness in the small things in life can be a game-changer in shifting your attitude of what is actually necessary to experience feelings of happiness, contentment and feeling at one with the world.
What makes us happy?
Happiness is experienced when you feel contented, your needs having been met.
There is a proven correlation between money and happiness but, beyond requirements to meet basic needs there is no marked correlation between having a lot of money and higher levels of happiness.
In fact there have been examples to show that those with fantastic material resources are often not fantasically happy. Could this be because these people have developed high expectations of requirements to experience happiness and have in the process lost touch with the small pleasures that are to be found in the wonderful everyday?
Helping others grows happiness
Helping others is one of the best way to grow your own happiness because through helping someone you too will receive benefit, so says the Dalai Lama.
Happy people are more willing to help others, so it stands to reason that cultivating an attitude of happiness in relation to everyday life is not only going to improve the life experience of others but also ourselves.
Cultivate feelings of happiness
Cultivating happiness
Taking time to notice the pleasure present in the small things in life can help to cultivate an attitude to notice feelings of happiness that can exist in unexpected places and experiences.
Slowing down and learning to notice unexpected sources of happiness is key to cutivating awareness of more sources of happiness that you’d appreciated before.
Experience the wonderful everyday
When did you last take the time to take in the smell of your skin after you’ve taken a shower, or noticed the softeness of your skin after you’ve dried yourself? It’s not self-indulgence going on here, it’s about taking pleasure in you being there, in that moment, alive and ready for the next moment and the next and the next – nothing more. A moment of stillness and connection with self can deliver that, albeing fleeting, feeling of contentment which delivers a little surge of happiness.
Regular practice of slowing down to take pleasure in simple things that exist in daily life can cultivate appreciation of what is around you, delivering insight that can actually enrich your life.
Slowing down to notice is something you learn to do during mindfulness practice. Join one of our online wellbeing sessions to find out more about cultivating happiness for yourself.
Find out if Mindfulness is for you
