DailyHappyLiving.com

gopimenon November 21st, 2009

For the past several months, I have been sharing the philosophy that each one of us can make Happiness a Habit – by remaining aware of our feelings at all times and by controlling our thoughts, thus activating happy feelings!

So by now you regular readers know that you can make happy living a reality in spite of the circumstances, environment or other people.

That in itself is already a great achievement, since the majority of the people in this world are still struggling with the idea that ‘their happiness is based on outer circumstances and other people’ and not on their own choice.  They keep complaining about external things like:

• he/she makes me angry,
• my spouse doesn’t understand me,
• that road-hog makes me lose my temper,
• my boss makes me sick,
• the loss of a dear one makes me depressed,
• etc. etc.

They have not yet realized that it is always a choice they themselves make as to whether to get angry, or upset or sad or miserable.

But you, dear readers have already learnt that ‘no matter what the event, or circumstance; how we respond (not react) is always our own choice!’ You have learned to make happiness a habit!

While that is a great first step to happy living, there is a problem associated with ‘being habitually happy’ – namely, the lack of motivation to achieve!  I explored this idea a little in an earlier post ‘The Problem With Being Happy‘.  When we are habitually happy, we feel calm and at ease and lazy in a nice way and have no motivation to do anything much!

So how does a habitually happy person, get motivated to achieve anything new or exciting?

That is the subject of the Second Phase in Daily Happy Living – How to Increase Your Happiness!

Anyone can increase his/her happiness by using what I call ‘Happiness Enhancers’.

As explained in the above mentioned post,  Happiness Enhancers are anything that add to or increase our present state of happiness.

Examples of Happiness Enhancers are:

1. Having a Major Purpose in Life
2. Setting and Achieving Goals
3. Building Wealth
4. Building Health and Fitness
5. Having a Hobby (physical – such as tennis, football etc. or mental – such as chess, crossword, sudoku etc.)
6. Being Entertained by Others (music, novels, operas, dramas, movies, TV etc)
7. By Entertaining Others
8. & Many, Many More ….

But one of the best ways to increase your happiness is to find our your passion (purpose) and go after it with your whole heart and soul, expecting to succeed in your venture.  Remember my saying “Man Proposes, God Endorses!”   Because that is the truth!

The Creator would have to be stupid to first give you a passion or purpose or talent and then try to make sure you fail!  If ‘Man Proposes, God Disposes’ is true; what hope is there for mankind?  What can we puny humans do against the might of the Creator?  We are bound to fail!

Hence, know for certain that if God has given us a special talent or passion or purpose, it is for us to work on it, to excel at it and thus provide the world with the fruits of our special talent!  The Creator is not a sadistic dictator finding pleasure at our failures and our misery.  If we think of God as a parent, then we know that the Creator finds joy in each of us exploiting our talents to the fullest and achieving incredible goals and not in ensuring that we fail!

In my next post we will discuss this vital point on Purpose & Motivation which can lead to increased happiness.

To be continued….

• Motivation , happiness , happy living , unhappiness
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gopimenon August 13th, 2009

Hi Friends,

Just what is our Primary Motivation that makes us carry out any action?  Is it money, love, greed, revenge, compassion, or fame?  Actually it is none of these!  There is one basic motivation that prompts us to take any action:  We want to FEEL GOOD or THINK that we will FEEL GOOD!

Granted one person’s idea of feeling good may be totally different from another (some may even seem totally perverse) – but everyone acts in a way to feel good or think that it will make them feel good!  Just think of all the various ways in which we act:

• Some people eat at roadside stalls while others eat at expensive restaurants!
• Some prefer to spend while others do the exact opposite and save their money!
• Some drink alcohol and others are teetotalers!
• Some are vegetarians while others cannot do without meat!

So although the actions may seem opposite, the reason or motivating force behind their actions is always the same – they want the ‘feel-good’ feeling or happiness!

Sometimes people do things that may seem to be exact opposite of feeling good.  Take smoking for example.  I dare say that no one enjoyed their first puff!   Their body would have rejected smoke going into their lungs by coughing and choking!

But they thought it would make them appear ‘cool’ amongst their peers  and so they persevered.  Our bodies are very adaptable, and so after some time it accepted the alien smoke and finally got addicted to it.   Now the body needed the smoke to feel-good!   So even the smoker is smoking to feel good!

• Why was Mother Theresa involved in charity work?  Because it made her feel good.  For her it was far better than getting married and raising a family which would have made many other women very happy!

• Why do the women wear expensive jewelry (or buy them and keep them in a safe deposit box)?  They feel good when they wear it (or just thinking that others think highly of them when they do!)
• Why do teenagers have body piercings and tattoos?
• Why do we watch movies (whether horror, musical, comedies or action movies)?
• Why do martyrs give up their lives for a belief?  They expect to feel good in the hereafter!
• Why do suicide bombers set off bombs killing innocent civilians?  Because they believe that by ‘sacrificing’ their life here, they will be happy (feel good) in the afterlife!
• Music, novels, theater – intellectual happiness
• Public speaking – the applause makes them feel good
• Why do failed lovers commit suicide?  They don’t feel good without the other!
• Bungee Jumping, Mountain Climbing or Sky Diving – to feel good!
• And so on….

In every instance mentioned above, the Primary Motivation is always the same: To FEEL GOOD!

That is why in my earlier posts I have been saying that “We have been programmed for happiness! God wants us to be happy!” Therefore it should not be that much of a problem for us to make happy living a way of life since we are already programmed for happiness and we are motivated by happiness!

All we need is to change our belief systems so that we are in alignment with what God and Nature intended for us. In my next post I shall begin to explore the practical means of changing our beliefs so that they are aligned to our primary motivation – i.e. to be Happy!

• Motivation , happiness , happy living
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