Knowing the answer to this question is important. Living every day in such a manner that makes happiness possible is life changing. Here are twelve basic laws of happiness we often cover with our coaching/course students that make life-long happiness a gradual reality:
1. Integrity is the foundation of a happy, meaningful life.
- A lot of the everyday conflict that arises in our lives exists simply because we’re not living in sincere alignment with our core values – we’re not being true to ourselves.
- Wherever your heart is – wherever your truth is – that’s where you will find your reason to smile.
2. Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being brave.
- You have to be willing to take a chance on what makes you happy.
- The only way to find true happiness is to be vulnerable sometimes and risk the possibility of being completely cut open.
3. Happiness is wholeness, and every step and experience is what makes you whole.
- Without each life experience, you are a blank page, an empty journal, an unsung lyric.
- What makes you ALIVE is your will to live through today’s challenges and then hold your head up high tomorrow with hope and determination.
4. A happy life story does not mean an easy life story.
- The best thing that you can do is to follow your heart. Take risks. Don’t just make the safe and easy choices because you’re afraid of what might happen – if you do, nothing will ever happen.
- You must work hard to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance through your imagination, while at the same time respecting each step along the way.
5. Happiness lives in all the small things.
- Subtract the obvious so you can see the meaningful.
- Rediscover the sensitivity of your childhood eyes. The eyes that saw life as it is – a beautiful compilation of tiny lives, each lived one at a time like snapshots in a family photo album. That saw beauty in flowers and rainbows and wild animals. That marveled at fireflies and sunsets and starry nights. That let you dream every instant with your eyes wide open.
6. Happiness is not some possession to be prized – it is a quality of thought, a positive state of mind in pursuit of meaning.
- The ability to find beauty in the humblest things makes a home happy, a relationship lasting, and a life lovely.
- One must find the mindfulness to truly appreciate the small things while chasing after the big ones.
7. The secret of everyday happiness is not in always doing what one likes, but in mindfully liking what one does.
- Be present with each step, do your very best, and let go of the rest.
- There is always, always, always some reason to be grateful and something interesting to learn along the way.
8. You can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes too.
- You can’t completely shield yourself from sadness without also shielding yourself from happiness.
- Light needs darkness to be light.
9. Happiness is an evolving mindset.
- Living a happy, positive life hinges on your ability to accept the fact that everything is constantly moving onward, away from everything that previously existed.
- No matter how good or bad you have it right now, it will change. That’s the one thing you can count on, again and again.
10. Happiness flourishes through detachment.
- Happiness grows in direct proportion to one’s acceptance.
- Happiness grows in inverse proportion to one’s expectations.
11. It’s impossible to build your own happiness on the unhappiness of others.
- Don’t put others down; lift them up.
- Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for acceptance, and your heart for love.
12. You are incomparable to everyone else, and so are your triggers for happiness.
- Social comparison never stems from a healthy, happy place. It makes no sense to directly compare yourself to someone who is NOT you, or worry that they are judging you for being YOU.
- If you feel called to compare yourself to someone else, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself, and admire how far you’ve come.
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