The Happiest People
The happiest people do not have best of everything. But they make the best of everything.
We all want to be happy. But we sometimes think of happiness as a thing that happens to us — something we have no control over. It’s easy to link the idea of happiness with the situation we’re in. We might tell ourselves, ”If only things were different, then I’d be happy.” But that’s not really how happiness works. Research shows that just a small portion of happiness (only about 10%) depends on a person’s situation.
This concept of having a purpose is especially prevalent in Eastern Asia. In Japan, there’s an actual term called ‘ikigai’, which is translated as “the reason you wake up in the morning.” When some of the happiest and longest-living people were studied, they all had such a reason.
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Happy people are willing to wait for the rewards and focus on the journey, how far they’ve come, and what’s ahead for them. They understand that the best things in life come to those who are patient and can stick it out for the long run, whether that’s a job promotion, relationship, or a new skill they’re learning. Life won’t always make sense, it’s not supposed to. We can’t possibly know everything, and sometimes the truth will feel more like a lie.
To enjoy the moment, It turns out that taking the time to “smell the roses” truly does enhance happiness in life. When you enjoy the small moments good or bad you’re more aware of what’s happening around you.
The happiest people focus on what they can control and it’s possible to choose happiness in the moment, no matter the struggles you may be going through.
”I am already kind of looking at life with those rose colored glasses of nostalgia, simply because I know these are times I will never be able to live again, and these are people I might not always have, and that makes it so much easier to appreciate everything I might miss later.”
Happiness is understood as the positive emotions we have in regards to the pleasurable activities we take part in through our daily lives. Pleasure, comfort, gratitude, hope, and inspiration are examples of positive emotions that increase our happiness and move us to flourish. In scientific literature, happiness is referred to as hedonia, the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative emotions.
“Life will give you whatever expericence is the most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.” — Eckhart Tolle
