🌳 How To Be Truly Happy

'Happiness is internal' something you may have heard before but not really considered. People tend to think that happiness is external, they think happiness comes from the nice clothes you wear, the nice car you drive, and the money that you have whereas the hard truth is that it has no impact

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done."

Lucille Ball

In simple terms, on your deathbed, you can either regret the things you’ve done or regret the things you haven’t. At least with one of them, you’ve tried.

HOW TO BE HAPPY

Happiness is internal

something you may have heard before but not really considered. People tend to think that happiness is external, they think happiness comes from the nice clothes you wear, the nice car you drive, and the money that you have whereas the hard truth is that it has no impact. The reason for that is because as humans we continuously chase, and there is a constant need in modern society for more.

Everyone thinks more is better. More money, more fame, a bigger house, more clothes with no vision for satisfaction. Think about, it you may want something, it could be anything but once you get it you turn to the next thing because there will always be a nicer phone you can buy or a nicer pair of shoes and the message that society has given you of ‘constantly needing to have the newest and nicest thing’ keeps you buying which keeps money flushing but It could not be further away from achieving happiness. If it did lead to happiness it means that the definition of it is forever changing.

This shows that you can’t obtain happiness from something external because if you’re not internally happy then nothing external matters, it’s like filling up a bucket with holes in it, you can chuck as much water in as possible but the bucket will never fill up. Happiness is internal, don’t believe me? Why do you have people living in 3rd world countries that have so little that are utterly happy? Those that spend their days walking 20 miles collecting food and water to go back to their skeleton of a house. Why are they happy if happiness comes from buying nice things?

It's because happiness is a frame of mind, and it stems from being grateful for what you have.

What is self-gratitude?

Self-gratitude is the art of being grateful for what you have, it's the art of looking within yourself and your life and appreciating the small things that you have, the milestones that you’ve accomplished and just for a second not searching for more and being fully in the moment with what you already have.

But why? Why is that going to help you be happy?

Well because life moves fast and it’s very rare that you have the opportunity to take a breather and appreciate what you already have as per to being stuck in the cycle of more, more, more. This allows you to truly think ‘you know what, I have a lot, from the shitty car I drive to the food that’s on my table, I have a lot more than others’.

And that’s what it’s about, appreciating what you already have and being grateful for it, it’s about reflection and acceptance.

How to practice self gratitude

To practice self-gratitude you have to take yourself out of the consumer cycle and a good way to do this is to journal. Sit down and write about how you feel and what you’re grateful for, even the small seemingly irrelevant things such as the jumper you’re wearing or the fact that you don’t have to worry about whether you’re able to eat tonight or the fact that your life really isn’t that hard.

Write about whatever you’re grateful for inside, there is no rulebook to this, its all up to you.

ACTIONABLE NEXT STEPS:

Grab a journal, just a blank notebook and make it a habit every single evening or morning to write about how you feel and what you’re in-particularly grateful for that day.

TAKEAWAYS:

Happiness is internal.

BOOK OF THE WEEK —

The book of the week is ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius. An Incredible read of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy for his own guidance and self-improvement that we get to consume! Read it HERE.

CREATOR OF THE WEEK —

The creator of the week is @Flynnskidmore, an incredible creator that makes it clear he wants to help you heal yourself and help you detect past trauma you may not even know you have. He is truly a creator that wants to make you become a better person every day. Check him out HERE.

LESSON OF THE DAY —

True satisfaction is happiness and happiness is internal, so where do you think you need to start improving?

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