Search for Happiness
The search for happiness should really be high on everyone’s priority list, but alas, it usually gets ignored as concentration falls on the zombie like activities of casually drifting through life in an unconscious state. In the rare occasion of waking up from this state, we have very temporary attempts to improve our happiness and live a more fulfilled life, usually with little success. This post won’t be providing a long list of ingredients to be followed as the only guaranteed way of happiness – It is more of an observation by a conscious individual with unique thoughts.
Most of us spend a lot of time searching for happiness in external places. We treat our affluent desires by purchasing materialistic goods, attempt to become as fit and skinny as possible and save the world by increasing our charity spending from £10 a month…to £15. A few of the more determined happiness dwellers will try and achieve the happiness internally – Just like the majority of self help books tell us to. The truth is that all of the above could lead to the golden grail of happiness, depending on one important factor:
This factor is our own defined image of ourselves. (In bold for a very important reason!)
The reality of the way you act
Happiness is directly correlated to the fulfillment of the image you create of yourself. Think about that for a minute. The easiest way to do that, is to treat yourself as a third person. The leading character in your own, hopefully not horror, movie. Treating yourself as a third person will allow you to look subjectively and truly see exactly what you wear, how you act and what activities you do. For example, ‘I eat sugary cereal in the morning and go for a run twice a week’. This is an important step to our own defined image of ourselves as it is the reality part of it. This reality is only half the puzzle though. The second half relates to your desire of your self image.
Your own self image of the way you act
This desire is often the delusional concept we have of ourselves. To use an example that is similar to our previous one, our desirable habitual routines become: ‘I eat a high protein breakfast and run five times a week’. I’m sure we can all name a few people that have similar sounding habits which the majority of people are fully aware aren’t being fulfilled. The interesting thing is, that these people will actually believe they are achieving their desires, at least on a conscious level. The unconsciousness cannot be so easily fooled by such delusional thoughts, and this is exactly what causes internal conflict which in turn, causes unhappiness.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for
OK, those are two interesting observations, but how do they relate to leading a happier life. Happiness is directly linked to how closely the reality of ones actions relates to ones self image. To put it in an easier to understand way – Analyse your actions and make sure that the reality of what you’re doing is as close as possible to what your self image is doing.
A simple concept that can lead to a great improvement of life.
Happiness is defined by the difference between the reality and desire of yourself – The closer the distance, the happier the person.