Happiness is a State of Mind

What is happiness really? Can you describe the feeling? Do you know what it is that truly makes you happy? Where should our happiness stem from? What should we allow to affect our happiness?

Happiness: The state of being happy.

Over the course of the past year, I’ve become more invested in the concept of happiness and how it is derived. I’ve spent more time writing, reading, and in solitude. Through this time I’ve come to realize that happiness isn’t one thing you choose to do or don’t do, one opportunity you get or you don’t get, or even one person; happiness is a state of mind.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our daily lives – to get caught up in our routines of the things we allow ourselves to believe we need to be doing. Going through the motions of our day without pausing to reflect on the state of our mental well-being, without stopping to reflect not only on our actions but also the people in our lives, the ones who we surround ourselves with everyday. This is who we are.

Other times we wait. We wait for a job to make us happy, we wait to be done school until we are happy, we wait until we find love to be happy. We just wait.

Through these times, we forget what happiness truly is – it’s a mental or emotional state of well-being. We are the ones who have to foster this emotion and feeling ourselves. It can’t come from anywhere or anyone else. For some people, I recognize that it is an extremely difficult task and maybe one that cannot be done without help. And to those people I say that that is okay, there is a lot of strength in getting help.

At the end of last year, I started writing in a gratitude journal every night. I write down five things I am grateful for and I end each day with a positive attribute. Regardless of whether I had a good day or a really bad day, I write five things. As someone who has always considered myself a happy person, it’s incredible to experience such a positive shift in my mental state of happiness. For others, I encourage people to consider starting a gratitude journal of their own – it helps advance emotional resilience.

So truly get to know yourself. Discover who you are and what allows you to live within a state of happiness. Understand that the only person who can control your happiness is you.

 

Sara

Comments

  1. Wendy

    Hi Sara: I am a friend of Emily Rose Bassett. I am much much older then her, should say I am a friend of her Mothers. lol. I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to many more

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