“The consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
“A large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” - George Burns
“When what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” - Mahatma Gandhi
My quote search didn’t help to answer the question at all… So what is happiness? What does it take for us to enjoy ourselves? We’ve been told that money isn’t the answer, but we haven’t been offered many alternatives. Which led me to contemplate my own happiness and back it up with some research. Here goes….
If I had to say what makes me happy, my immediate response would be France. I’m lucky enough to spend a month each year working all over France, and I love it! But what if I couldn’t go to France, could I still be happy? I think so. So here are some of the other things in my life that make me happy…..
Friends
Having meaningful relationships with people around me can always make me smile. Wether it’s my clown of a husband making me laugh, unexpectedly bumping into a friend, a fat chat with my sister (who lives too far away) or a night out as a group, it makes me happy. Meaningful conversations make us human.
Purpose
I’m one of those lucky people who really enjoys my work. Constantly striving to create something bigger and better excites me. Helping others while I’m at it makes it all feel worthwhile. The ability to direct my work where I want to go is fantastic. Getting paid for doing something I truly enjoy is an added bonus.
Mini-moments
Watering my veges, coffee at the beach, having the time to walk to the supermarket, cooking up a storm, training with friends, seeing photos of my nephews, reading the Sunday paper…. there are so many mini-moments each week that make me smile. We just need to remember to appreciate them.
According to the experts
Dr Happy should know a thing or two about what makes us tick. So I read his list of 20 simple tips to be happy now. It turns out that we need to make happiness a priority, plan for it and do things that make us happy. This sounds a little obvious, but it’s worth stopping to think about. We often get caught up doing things that ‘should’ get done and forget to do the things that we truly enjoy. Could you add 10-minutes reading a book in the park to your day? Or make sure you catch up with a friend who makes you laugh each week?
I also came across some fresh research out of New Zealand. The research into what makes us tick found that face-to-face interactions make us happy and facebook doesn’t. Out of 30 surveyed activities, the top 5 activities that make us happy are:
- Sex/making love
- Partying
- Care-giving/volunteering
- Meditating/religious activities
- Childcare/playing with children
And our 5 least enjoyable activies are:
- Lectures/class/lab
- Paid work
- Commuting/travelling
- Internet/on computer
- Washing/grooming/dressing
It’s worth keeping in mind that a lot of students were included in the sample, which is clear from the responses. But hey, weren’t most of us pretty happy when we were students? You can read the full article here.
I’ve realised over time that the toughest moments in life are there to make all of the other moments shine a little brighter. The hard times, wether it was a hard day or a hard year, have all served their purpose. I reflect on them, then tuck them away so they can’t drive me crazy.
The same applies to the best moments in life – we need to appreciate the brief moments of happiness as well as the big adventures. And above all else, we need to be. Stop comparing ourselves to others, stop dwelling on the past, stop worrying about the future… and just enjoy being right here, right now.
