Do you know why it’s important to be happy?
Sure, we know we prefer to be happy right? Or do we?
As a child, I sometimes heard about people leaving jobs or relationships because they “weren’t happy.”
What did they mean? It’s just a job so why not just keep doing it?
Don’t you need that job?
And for those that leave a relationship, what’s wrong with it you have to leave it? What is making you want to leave it?
I didn’t quite get the full picture of what was really going on around me at a young age.
As I grew older I had to have some kinda understanding of why happiness is so important to us as humans.
In this article, I will be covering why happiness is so important to us and the benefits of being happy. I will also cover some of the little things in life we can do to help us to be happy with ourselves and others and the environment around us.
This is a very important topic we all should understand…
Table of Contents
What is Happiness?
I often thought happiness means different things to different people so I decided to check out the actual definitions of happiness.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there are two meanings. Happiness is:
- a state of well-being and contentment – joy
- a pleasurable or satisfying experience
Wikipedia describes happiness in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
Ok, so that was very straight forward. In other words:
Happiness is an emotional state created from a pleasurable or satisfying experience that leaves us feeling anything ranging from contentment to intense joy.
Now that we know what happiness is, what can we do to experience more of it?
Enjoy the Present
Having learned the actual definition of happiness I now understand that things don’t necessarily have to be perfect in my life in order for me to experience happiness.
Ever tell yourself, “I will be happy when…“?
I know I have certainly been guilty of that one.
It doesn’t matter what we finish that sentence with, we are delaying happiness.
We are telling ourselves that we are not worthy of happiness as we are.
And as long as you keep telling yourself you are not worthy of happiness, we will never receive it in our life.
I finally get it.
It’s like someone saying, “I will be happy when I am on that cruise”. This actually takes away your happiness until you are on the cruise. But a cruise is only one little portion of your entire life.
All this time I have been thinking of happiness as a tangible thing to reach someday rather than the more accurate feeling or state of mind I can choose to be in now.
What a life-changing revelation to me.
Serious game-changer here.
Like, WOW, how did I not get this before.
I have learned that if I practice wanting what I have it will feel so much sweeter when I have what I want.
I know that may sound a little strange but look around you now. What do you see that you can enjoy and appreciate right now.
For me I see my husband, I am so thankful for someone who is not only my life partner but also my business partner, and my best friend.
I see a warm comfortable home in which we live and work.
I see photos of our children and grandchildren on the walls.
I see a beautiful yard in which to get outside and enjoy nature.
Seriously though why can’t I be happy with those?
I didn’t realize just how many things I already have that make me happy and I am so thankful to realize that now so I can appreciate and enjoy these things so much more.
If you don’t appreciate the things around you, you will end up living on a gray, cloudy, dark unhappy day. Everyday.
Improved Health
Health is something most of us take for granted until such time as it becomes compromised.
I witnessed this in our own family. We are fortunate to have had 5 children and successfully raised them to be great young adults.
Some of them have blessed us with a total of 10 grandchildren to date. We were all healthy and nobody thought it would ever be different.
Then in June 2019 that all came crashing down when we learned our 4-year-old grandson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Now I know with proper diabetes management our grandson can lead a healthy and productive life. Diabetes never goes away, it has no cure. For the rest of his life, he will require insulin injections just to stay alive. We have all learned how to manage Alex’s diabetes and we all still enjoy the fun active living we always did.
My point was, we took the good health of our family for granted and in the blink of an eye it was changed, forever altered. We now have to think about diabetes before we do anything so we can have what we need with us at all times.
People who are happy tend to be much more optimistic about everything life throws at them. And life will throw it at you because it is a part of life.
Christopher Peterson, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Michigan, has studied optimism’s link to health for over 20 years. These studies have shown that optimistic people have a stronger immune system than their negative counterparts.
This could be the result of their tendency to take better care of themselves but regardless of the physical, it has to start with the mind.
I strongly recommend that you choose to be happy now and have more days of good health ahead of you. If you are one of the optimistic and is enjoying and appreciating life around you, great. This is more of a reminder to you.
Benefits Into The Future
Did you ever notice how the people who are the most optimistic seem to be the most successful in life?
It seems the reverse is also true, negative people seem to have narrower thinking which in turn prevents them from striving for more.
They seem to be stuck in their current circumstances because they don’t allow themselves to think of a brighter future.
Every day in many workplaces we see evidence of this.
Happy people are much more productive and this makes them much more likely to achieve their goals.
Achieving your goals certainly paints a brighter future don’t you think?
In my own life I have noticed that when I stay focused on the positive I am able to get things accomplished, I easily come up with ideas for blog posts, the research goes well, I find I can then easily write the article. The words just seem to easily flow and before I know it I have completed my day’s work with little to no effort.
On the other hand, if I begin my day focused on negative things that have happened, I find myself struggling to find ideas to write about, I can’t seem to find the information I am looking for, and I seem to be having a hard time to write a sentence let alone a whole article.
How about you?
Have you noticed these forces at work in your own life?
Notice and Appreciate Details
I have noticed that life is full of ups and downs. Even in the midst of the downtimes, there is always something positive you can take note of if you notice it.
When things go badly as they sometimes do, rather than dwelling on the fact that things didn’t work out, try looking for the lesson you can learn from this experience.
I have found that by focusing on a solution rather than dwelling on the problem I seem to overcome many difficulties much easier.
Notice the little things in life, they could be sources of the greatest pleasure.
Time spent playing with your pet is certainly enjoyable, spending time with friends or family doing some fun activity always bring pleasure.
One thing our family likes to do during the summer is rent tubes and float down a local river. This is a fun family activity. We tie the tubes together so no one gets left behind and we stay together. We take drinks and snacks and have a fun afternoon just enjoying time together.
Each Day is a New Opportunity
I used to be obsessed with being perfect. In school, this was a problem because my assignments wouldn’t get passed in because they were never perfect.
It has taken me a while but I finally learned that I don’t need to be perfect.
As long as I am moving forward and am better today than I was yesterday then I am doing just fine.
I find I am much more satisfied when I set attainable goals and can actually meet them in a reasonable amount of time.
The goals I set now could be:
- stay focused for the next hour
- write an extra article tomorrow
- research 2 articles this morning
For some, it may be getting out of bed by 8 am and or go for a 2-mile walk. It’s good to always challenge yourself to do a little better. Remember not to overdo it by picking a task that is too advanced or big to do.
I find this is so much less stressful than obsessing about writing a perfect article or worrying about why I am not a world-class writer.
I just focus on creating quality articles that can hopefully be of benefit to people because helping people is truly my passion.
Besides you don’t want to be perfect, we always need room to advance and grow which is a lot more fun than just being perfect.
I watched my son play a game on the computer called Warcraft. This was the first one that came out years ago and at his young age, all he wanted to do was chop down trees in the game. When the enemy came along and started to interfere he would just start a new game again because that was what made him happy.
His older brother would come along and offer to show him how to build up his army which never interested him until many years later. As he grew older he finally beat the game and was very excited however after the excitement passed he was sad because there was no longer a challenge for him to create the interest to play it any longer.
Be Who You Want To Be
One of the most fantastic things about life is we each get to be whatever we choose to be and we can change our minds any time we want.
There was a time I wanted to work in healthcare so that is what I did.
I worked as a PCW (personal care worker) and loved my chosen career. I was able to help a lot of people and felt I made a difference.
I wanted to be a mother so I had children and raised them. I love being a mother even now that my children are grown and some of them are now parents.
I have recently chosen to pursue my passion for writing.
Starting my own blog based website has allowed me to discover my love of writing within many topics that interest me.
It has allowed my husband and me to work together creating our own online business and we are having the time of our lives.
If this is something that interests you then check out the free training that got us started.
It’s been 3 years now and like they say, time flies when you’re having fun.
Finding Joy in Life Makes a Difference
We’ve all heard the saying, “take the time to smell the roses”. There really is something to that.
We may all have different goals and dreams but we all strive to be happy.
Whatever else we may want in life, most of us want to live a meaningful life and have a positive effect on others.
One thing I have noticed is that happiness is a choice we make moment by moment.
Once we decide to be happy and focus on the positive things, no matter how small, others will notice and try to do the same.
It causes a ripple effect.
Once you find one thing to be happy about, it won’t be long before you find another, then another.
When you are focused on finding the joyful moments in your life and appreciating them your relationships seem to flourish as well.
I find great joy in simply baking cookies with a grandchild.
I absolutely loved watching Kaileigh’s skills develop through the years as we baked many times when she visited.
It truly is the little things in life that bring the greatest joy.
Making memories with family and friends is the happiest time in our lives don’t you think?
Final Thoughts
As one can see there are a plethora of reasons why it’s important to be happy?
We learned that happiness is an emotional state created from a pleasurable or satisfying experience.
It could be anything from contentment to intense joy and everything in between.
It is important to live in the moment and experience happiness now.
Don’t’ wait for the special occasion because it’s the journey of life that creates happiness.
Don’t wait for things to be perfect, look for the positive things in your life now and enjoy them to the fullest.
Focusing on the positive can actually help you achieve your goals and dreams creating a much brighter future for yourself.
Maintaining a positive focus will strengthen your immune system which in turn improves your overall health.
It is easier to focus on positive things if we learn to notice the little things in each day that can make us feel joyful.
Remember that each day is an opportunity to become better than yesterday. Keep moving forward one day at a time.
We each have the opportunity to become whoever we want to be. We can also change our minds on who we wish to be and make the necessary changes to become that new vision.
How I Make A Living Online
Finding joy really does make a difference not only in our lives but in those around us. When you live positively, and joyfully people will notice and emulate that.
You really will make a positive difference in other people’s lives because you are a very important person and you deserve to have whatever you want in life.
All we have to do is decide on what it is and do it.
This is exactly what I had done a few years back.
I still remember those scary moments when I decided to quit my day job and become my own boss as an affiliate marketer.
And I can say I never looked back.
I chose affiliate marketing for several reasons:
- Low startup cost
- Get started right away
- Don’t need my own product, just promote others like a local store does
- I can do it anywhere
Now I help others to find their passion.
Click here to check out the free training that got me started.
You can leave your happiness tips in the comment section below.