Think happy and be happy in life

Well, have you seen the Laughing Buddha raising his hands and laughing his heart out happily. Can we not be like him thinking happy thoughts always. Actually it all depends on what “happy thoughts” are for you I guess. Someone might think a happy thought is a smiley face with colorful balloons, someone else might think that a happy thought is walking in nature or dancing in rain. But generally speaking, happy is not a specific and absolute state of mind.

What we consider as “Happy” has to do a lot with the chemicals in our body, like dopamine, which is considered to be the hormone of happiness. When it comes to long-term happiness (If such a thing exists anyway), depends on many variables like the environment we live in, our health, our success in life, feeling of connection with God or something higher for some, the people that surround us, our accomplishments and many more. So since the definition of happiness varies so much from person to person and from one philosophy to another, it makes it hard to state any kind of methodology for achieving it. Even people that are very rich and successful, can be quite miserable.

One quote that I think is close to the truth from Christopher Miller is “Low expectations is the key to happiness in life”, which I quite like myself. But it is harder said than done a lot of times. Generally though, I don’t think that our purpose in life is solely happiness. The interchange of moods and states of mind that we all go through serves a purpose and is often crucial to triggering the “correct” reactions and actions. It would be quite paralyzing if we always thought just happy thoughts all the time. Stress, fear and other things in moderation are important for our survival and serve as motivation to bring change about.

I personally believe that happiness and satisfaction have a lot to do with creation thought. Our soul seems to be hungry for creation and there might be a reason for that, but it’s a long discussion to get to the bottom of “why”. But generally I’ve noticed people feel happiness or get the feeling of satisfaction when they create or have created something. I don’t just mean Artsy things, but even things like wealth, good relationships, pleasant environment, we create many things everyday that we just don’t consider to be creation, when they are.

Just the action of being alive and breathing, creates a cycle of Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide which sustains plants and nature in general. So just appreciate your importance in this world, as a unique being and a part of the bigger picture and that might turn your thoughts towards a more happy state. I think you should start by telling yourself to. If you catch yourself thinking something sad or stressing about something insignificant (that doesn’t need to be fixated on), tell yourself to breathe and think about what’s a good aspect of the situation. The more you do it, the more naturally it’ll come to you.

Become aware of your negative thoughts every time you have them. Listen, do not judge. Once you can do it consistently, start acting - replace a negative thought with a positive (gratitude works best for me, eg thinking about what good happened to me today) Use a reminder (inspirational quote, tattoo, etc) and place reminders everywhere where you may be frequently/ can have thoughts. Sleep well and enough, eat well and healthy, maintain good relationships with people important to you.

Think about a moment / some moments you like the most. That made you laugh and or smile. I know maybe some people don’t have hobbies, but if you have hobbies, think about it. Think about you doing the hobby. Think about things you never do before that you want the most, like traveling to some countries and sitting in a beautiful forest, etc. or think about you meeting peoples you love. If one cannot think happy you are either happy or not happy. It is a state of mind and not about thinking. Happiness is not in the destination. It lies in the process of doing something we love to do and you enjoy doing it. When you link to happiness to a obtaining something, either money or award or appreciation, it will be short lived.

Some lucky people are able to enjoy life as it is and be happy most of the time. Even when they become sad they are able to bounce back quickly to a state where they can enjoy life as it is where it is. they are able to positively influence all the people surrounding them. To do that, I surrounded myself with things that make me happy. Lots of plants in cute little vases & bowls. Small framed photos with excellent memories hanging on the wall. Light, bright rooms. Lots of sunshine & I suggest you paint your walls lemon yellow. It's a lovely, very bright but softly muted pastel yellow. Sparkling glass chandeliers & lamps. Pretty wall sconces & a few of your favorite handmade crafts.

Maybe set up an electric fireplace if you are in a cold zone or a split air conditioner if you are in hot climatic zone. So if you wake up in such an awesome Beautiful room, & you spend your down time all snuggled in your awesome room, how can you not be happy? Then that attitude will follow you through your day & rub off on everyone you talk with that day. Try that & see if it's a good start? For me expectations create unhappiness . Nothing works to plan . Life has a random quality which influences the outcome of our plans.

Desire is another one. I know our culture is obsessed with it. Believing it’s the holy trail to happiness. Don’t desire and don’t expect . Hard I know but means you will be more in the moment . Being more in the moment makes one happy. In most people’s lives most of the day is taken up with doing necessary things, unless they are on vacation. While some of those can be happy things, many of them are just taking out the garbage, paying bills, doing your job, shopping for groceries. And so on.

When you have a bit of free time you need to think about the problems facing you tomorrow at home, at work, appointments with dentists, etc. Those don’t leave much room for being happy. But you are getting things done and at the end of the day you can think that it was a good day. This is more like contentment than happiness, I suppose, but that’ a very good feeling too. If you want to spend a lot of time trying to be happy, you will find that you are neglecting your daily duties, which tend to pile up, like dishes in the sink. And that will make you unhappy.

People try to arrange happiness - make some free time, like Saturday night. Decide on party dates with friends, etc. Then go and try to be happy. You will find that you cannot force happiness. Most writers on the subject say take you happiness where and when you can find it and everyday things. Some people will get on the web and look at kitten or puppy pictures (lots of those people around, apparently). Contact a friends you have neglected due to being too busy. Clean out your sock drawer. To each his own. Cheers!