You can’t fast forward happiness, but you don’t have to wait too long either. Life is full of ups and downs. There will be moments where you feel completely on top of your game and fully capable and other times where you are out of your depth and feeling incompetent. You will offer support to others and then need it yourself. You will be healthy and feel physically vibrant and then be forced to deal with mysterious health maladies and/or aches and pains. You will have periods where you feel isolated and completely alone but also have opportunities to build close personal relationships. It is all part of the journey…
Life rewards focus and persistence. If you keep working at something, you will eventually make progress. What you must be careful about is managing your expectations. You also need to take responsibility for the outcome(s) you want and not expect someone else to create the reality you seek. Happiness is no exception. Happy people work at being happy and start with themselves first. They must deal with unhappy moments like everyone else but have trained themselves to practice acceptance rather than resistance and have fine-tuned their own capacity to muddle through and make positive changes.
The good news is that once you’ve inhabited the dark you more fully appreciate the light. Never forget that every day begins with a beautiful sunrise. I read a book once (unfortunately I forgot the title) where the whole premise was that happiness has the potential to be around every corner. You just need to keep looking and maintain a hopeful perspective. There are no real shortcuts in life when it comes to joy and fulfillment. Yes, you will have to deal with disappointment and frustration. However, never give up or lose sight of how amazing this world truly is and how many wonderful people have entered and exited your life. Keep pressing forward and navigate the turns as they present themselves. I guarantee there will be moments of peace and happiness. Your life will end up being what you make of it.
Related articles
- The Happiness Project Book Excerpts (capacity-building.com)
- Happiness Comes From Within (capacity-building.com)
- People Can Be A Bridge To Your Future Happiness (capacity-building.com)
- 12 Things Happy People Do Differently (bodyofyoga.wordpress.com)
- The 8 Splendid Truths of Happiness (psychcentral.com)
- Happiness and success? (morejoyforme.wordpress.com)
- A simple model of lifetime happiness (marginalrevolution.com)
- What is Happiness? (coca-cola.com)