Do you really want to know – What Makes You Happy?
Happiness is a constant work in progress and applying yourself on a consistent basis to those things that help create a feeling of happiness within you.
What does it take to make you happy?
How can you become happier?
The ‘Happiness Project” was an interesting experiment that led one woman, New York writer Gretchen Rubin, on a year-long journey. Here’s the story from Lois Thielen of the sctimes.com:
She was married to the perfect man, had two adorable young daughters and a fulfilling career as a writer in a city she loved. But she felt she could be happier and less stressed. Thereby was born “The Happiness Project,” which became both a best-selling book and a blog detailing her experiences.
Her goal was two-fold – to appreciate what she already had and to attain what she wanted but didn’t have. As she put it, “I had everything I could possibly want – yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had. I didn’t want to keep taking these days for granted.”
Rubin first studied the issue of happiness with books on philosophy, religion, science, psychology and popular culture. She sought answers in novels and biographies. She debated if it was possible for a person to be able to make herself happier and what was happiness for that person anyway.
Deciding that she could become a happier person, she drew up a master plan for the coming year that she termed the happiness project. For each of the next 12 months, she would focus on a different aspect of happiness, basing these on what she called her Twelve Commandments and her Secrets of Adulthood – basic principles she had learned about what made her happy. Most of these are behaviors we all know but underestimate the importance of, such as “Do it now” or “It’s important to be nice to everyone.”
Isn’t this what most people are looking for…finding happiness?
Sometimes it can be so simple to achieve yet seem so far away!
So what makes you happy?
What questions do you ask yourself that may challenge you to make a change for the better?
What actions would you take?
Please LIKE and/or leave your comments below.
