To attain happiness, it’s essential to look for it in small things & consistently engage in those activities which make us feel satisfied.
Let’ accept that the principle of Pain & Pleasure guides everything we do in our lives. We do things either to reduce pain or to gain pleasure. Just think about your daily routines and task; this is the core idea at the bottom of all. This implies once we can accomplish our work, we should feel happy.
It seems simple, isn’t it?
Not really & let me share why I say so.
By associating the feeling of happiness with achievement, we are pushing it away. It has two significant disadvantages:
1. We are telling ourselves that we have the right to be happy only once we succeed in our endeavor. This implies we begin our work in a low or average emotional state. Starting something when you are not at your best reduces the chances of success.
2. In a scenario where the event’s outcome is not exactly as expected, we continue to feel sad. This has a cascading effect on our other activities as we begin on a low note again.
I call this situation the LES (Low Emotional State) Loop, making it tough to carry on.
There are two scenarios in which you can break and come out of it :
#1.Occurrence of an event that makes you happy. Like unprecedented gain in wealth, a promotion at work, marriage at home, recognition for your work, etc.
#2. You have pro-actively worked on yourself and know exactly what you need to do to come out of this situation.
We can’t do much about option 1, as it’s something not in our control. It is more dependent on chance and not predictable.
Option#2, on the other hand, is a proactive approach to dealing with things, very much in our control. That’s what we are going to talk about here.
The root cause of getting trapped in the LES loop emanates from starting something while not in a good state. The antidote to this situation, therefore, is to begin while you are happy.
The obvious question is how? We are not robots and can’t be happy or sad at the push of a button. Agreed, but we are similar to robots. The way they have mechanical buttons, we have emotional triggers. We can generate the right emotions and transcend to the desired state by knowing and pressing the right stimuli. If you want to be happy, knowing what makes you feel and doing it is an obvious solution. But most of us lack the required awareness and therefore struggle.
It requires a more profound sense of awareness. If you would like to understand yourself deeper and learn how to remain consistent in your best state to get the desired results, taking the help of a coach or mentor will make it easier.
If you seek short-term solutions & quick fixes, you can check out this hack to attain happiness. I call it Happiness SITUPS.
Don’t worry; we are not talking about physical sit-ups for losing belly fat. SITUPS is an acronym for a quick recall.It can be decoded as under :
Smile Frequently
Indulge In Good Stuff
Thank More Often
Understand & do what you love
Positive Attitude
Selfless Acts
Let’s find what each step means…
Smile Frequently: Stop taking yourself and life too seriously and learn to live in a light-hearted & carefree way. Quit overthinking and overly worrying about the outcome. Look forward to the experiences you will gain & cherish. Smile more, laugh more & be cheerful.
Indulge in the good stuff: Spend your time doing things that help you take care of your body, mind & soul. Eat healthily, exercise regularly, spend time with loved ones, read self-help books, learn new skills, meditation, and spiritual practices that help you connect more with yourself are some of the activities that qualify as suitable activities. All these activities help you in your inner development and give you the required energy to face challenges in life. Gossiping, criticizing, chit-chat, binge-watching television or other similar mediums, spending time on social media are a strict no.
Thank more often: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Count your blessings and learn to appreciate things. Most of us get into a rat race and spend our lives chasing what we don’t have. If not anything else, be thankful for waking up and live another day. By being grateful, we send positive energy in the universe, which comes back to us in one way or the other.
Understand & do what you love: Find the creative things you love doing. Is it painting, dancing, sketching, painting, writing, cooking, analysis, teaching, reading, singing, or something else. Find out which are those activities? Once done, spend more time in these pursuits. That’s one sure way of feeling happy.
Positive Attitude: To find more happiness, you must know how to make the most of your every moment. Experience incredible things & create beautiful memories. Say Yes to new opportunities which might come your way and explore. Unique experiences and adventures will surely help you expand your horizon and show the countless possibilities.
Self-less acts: The most selfish thing we can do is to help others. The feeling you get when you help someone in need is unparalleled. By doing good to others, you allow yourself more. You may reflect on your life and revisit the moment when you did a similar activity. How does it feel Alternatively, notice when you get an opportunity to help someone next time. It is the quickest and easiest way to feel good about yourself.
We spend most of our lives in pursuit of happiness, running after things. Trying to achieve what we don’t have. All this while happiness might be sitting right under our nose, waiting for the acknowledgment of its existence.
Remember, “We achieve success once we are happy, it’s not the other way round.”
Cheers
Lalit Kumar Hundalani||Peak Performance & Life Transformation Coach||2X Best Selling Author
PS: If you would like to get into detail about the process of self-discovery and the ways to transition in a high state, then we can connect on the below link.