Recipe For Happiness

Is there a recipe that tells us how to obtain happiness. Read this thought and find wisdom about happiness.

Thought For The Day
Recipe For Happiness
Author: Byron Pulsifer, © 2012

Throughout the ages, the quest for happiness has always been in the minds of people no matter if they were a king or a slave.

Happiness takes on many forms and is subject to as many definitions. Some people say they will be truly happy when they finally retire, or if they were to win the lottery, or if they finally get that promotion they have been working towards for years.

Others believe that happiness comes by way of others. In these cases, they look at other people's lives as if they are invested in them, or they depend on others to lift their spirits or to make then laugh. This is not a recipe for happiness.

Happiness is dependent, instead, on how you view life and everything about it. There is no doubt that life can be brutally harsh with disappointments, upheavals, or open to ridicule or loss of a loved one. This is life. But, happiness is more about where you are right now this very instant. It isn't about tomorrow and it certainly isn't about yesterday.

Happiness is about today and what you make of it.
It is about using your own personality to offer your friendship or affection to another.
It is about laughing out loud throughout the day.
It is about appreciating the fact that you live in a country where your personal freedom is secure.
It is about being able to go where you want without limitations or fear of persecution or arrest.
It is about adoring a little bay that goes by with his or her mother.
It is about taking a walk in a park where the sun shines and the kids laugh and play.

To be happy isn't a mystery unless of course you are not in charge of your own life. If you live a life under the influence or control of others and cannot believe or act, or behave as you want, you are not going to be happy.

To be happy also means that you have a choice - a choice to be happy, to laugh, to appreciate what you have where you are right now.

There is no secret recipe to happiness. It is not something you can find some place else, or in a different city, or country or job. It is something you have right now - look around and see it.

Through the course of my lifetime, I have had many conversations with thousands of people and usually, sooner or later, the issue of happiness comes into play in one form or another. You usually do not have to ask people if they are happy for it usually appears in both what is said or the questions asked.

Some of these statements indicate that the person really is confused about what constitutes happiness where their life is one constant struggle to find the perfect situation or definition. To others, happiness is defined through a narrow lens where it is only a matter of owning certain materialistic items, or having enough money to quit their job. This kind of definition is very superficial in nature with little or no substance upon which to build a life of meaning.

In other cases, people assume that to be happy means that life is devoid of issues, challenges, problems, or sorrow. Well, unfortunately for these people, life will never be defined as happy because life is not devoid of issues and concerns. Life is a series of cycles where we go up and down and over again throughout a lifetime. Happiness cannot be reached by extending your gaze outside of yourself; happiness is an inward task that seeks to find the real soul, the real person, and the real values.