What is happiness? It is a very relative term.
For one person, happiness could mean the birth of their first child. For another, it could mean getting the best deal on Cox cable packages. For still others, it could mean the reward from internal or external success. At the end of the day, happiness is defined by the individual experiencing it.
The notion of happiness varies from person to person, but the emotion remains constant. Happy people enjoy their lives more. Happy people get less upset with setbacks. Happy people do not create egos to worship above all. But how do they achieve the state of happiness? People often confuse the dividing line between happiness and success. How you can be happy depends a lot on the stock you put in your success. This gives rise to the question, what is a success?
Success, or our perception of success, can be tied to external or internal achievements. Societal conventions tend to tie it with external achievements. In modern society, success, and by extension happiness, appears to be the size of your apartment, your car, and your bank account. Yet, there are numerous examples of wealthy people with all of the above still not attaining happiness. Conversely, people who do not tie their happiness in with external success tend to be happier overall. For these people, happiness cannot be achieved simply by getting a promotion or a bonus.
They tend to tie in happiness with internal success, like being a good family person or volunteer work etc. These people also tend to get less upset by external factors. A person who values family more than a perceived high-profile job would tend to be less upset by downsizing. A person who places a career before the family would obviously be more affected due to the emotional investment in their job. The type of success you value greatly influences the level of happiness you feel.
It is often said that you cannot learn anything by observing the happiness of others. I have always disagreed with this statement. A person looking to induce happiness in their life needs inspiration, and for that, they need to observe others. Examining happy people’s life patterns can give you the inspiration to emulate useful habits. The goal is to be happy, not following outdated idioms and rules. Dozens upon dozens of studies have been carried out to observe happiness patterns across a diverse sample of the population. In my personal pursuit of happiness, I have distilled the resulting emotion to 15 habits found in happy people everywhere. This is what they are:
Life can seem unfulfilled at times. The lesson here is to recognize opportunities when you get them and act on them at the right time. Even the biggest call to your specific life dreams can go unanswered if you don’t act on it. You could stay stuck in that xfinity customer care service Job? forever, regretting not going into advertising like you always wanted. Time is the most precious commodity of all, don’t let it slip through your hands. Happiness is within everyone’s reach, all you need to know is how to hold on to it.
Alex Brian is an entrepreneur, marketer, and writer. He loves beaches. That's where he finds his inspiration to in-depth guides that teach E-commerce store owners ways to manage, grow and scale their business. In a former life, Alex co-founded a custom menswear company which generates 6-figures in annual revenue through its website and retail. He also writes for the Optimum Internet blog.