Are you feeling full of inspiration and motivation?
No!! Then perhaps you aren’t happy.
What is happiness?
What makes us happy, confident and bubbling with self esteem?
How can we be happy?
Happiness is the feeling we get when the body releases the hormone Serotonin. This hormone helps to prevent depression, raises our spirits and provides us with energy. Exposure to sunlight is a great way of increasing levels of Serotonin which is why so many people feel bright and happy during the hot, sunny days of summer and consequently feel far more miserable during the cold, dark days of winter. Many people comfort eat to make them selves feel happier. This is not surprising when it is known that carbohydrates, protein and famously chocolate raises levels of Serotonin within the body.
With regards to nutrition and a healthy way of living, vitamins B and C plus exercise all increase the “happy hormone”, which probably explains why exercise can sometimes feel like a chore but after completing a workout there is an overwhelming mood of exhilaration.
Do you deserve to be happy?
If the answer is no, your belief system is telling you that you and happiness don’t belong together.
But why should anybody feel this way?
This belief needs to be challenged. Look around you at all those successful and happy people. Do they deserve to be happy?
They, like us all, have made mistakes and probably make many cock ups on a daily basis. Without a doubt some will have cheated, lied or even broken the law. So why should these people deserve happiness any more than you?
Are they really any better a person than you?
If these people believe that they deserve happiness than so should you. God created us to experience joy and abundance and to live our lives to the full. Being depressed and miserable was not his intention.
So what is the definition of happiness?
This has been a question open for debate among many a philosopher. Some believe this is a feeling one gets when everything in life is as it should be. Others express it as the feeling you get when you achieve a goal. The problem with viewing it this way is that happiness can be very short lived. Once a goal has been reached the feeling of happiness wears off when the next target presents itself.
My favourite definition is that of inner peace. Once inner peace has been experienced, it can last forever despite all the problems that manifest themselves as time goes on. The word contentment springs to mind at this point.
Happiness is a perspective dependant on ones emotion. What makes one person happy will not necessarily make the next man happy. So how can we make ourselves happy?
The mind can only experience one emotion at a time. If we are stressed we cannot be happy. If we are depressed we cannot be full of motivation and inspiration. Happiness is the absence of bad emotions. Identify the bad emotions we feel and try to substitute them with feelings of self confidence and positive ness. Happiness and self esteem will shortly follow.
Know what it is that makes you happy. Once this has been identified, visualise it, believe that you can have it and make great strides to achieve it.
Strive to create a feeling of optimism. When problems and obstacles have to be overcome, self confidence, positive thinking and optimism are fantastic tools to help you hurdle over those barriers.
Without getting to deep, religion is a tremendous source of happiness. The belief in a higher power that is there to assist in all our problems gives great strength to our optimism, hope and happiness.
Have a purpose in life. By having something to get up for in the mornings, and then achieving our purposes, again boosts self esteem, confidence and happiness.
Undoubtedly having deep and meaningful relationships is a great source of happiness. We all have the need to be wanted and finding a loving partner and family provides so much joy. And when there are times of trouble, sharing these woes with another certainly halves the burden.
Ultimately happiness comes from within. If you can be happy and contented despite all life’s problems then you have truly found happiness. If you can enjoy everything that surrounds you then congratulations, you are a happy and contented man (woman).
Finding happiness is a great target to aim for. Happiness lies at the heart of inspiration, motivation, self esteem and self confidence.
Terry Norrington
www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#terryn1
www.getselfconfident.com
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