Happiness

Many believe that happiness is the meaning of life, but there is no guarantee of happiness.

The ultimate source of happiness is a mental feeling of joy, and not a wealth of material goods. The sensory pleasure that material things provide is generally very short-lived and does little to alleviate anxiety or depression in the long term. One could simply say instead that material joy breeds anxiety and depression in the long term, as it creates a need to constantly have more. The mental joy, on the other hand, maintains itself and can even increase in the long term. So what exactly is mental happiness?

Well, mental happiness is an inner peace that you could call mindfulness and it has to be cultivated by each of us from within. A key to happiness would then be mental happiness and mental happiness is not something that can be bought. The basic source of happiness is a feeling of kindness towards others. Having said that, the mental joy can be trained. (But more on that in another post).

Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health Is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool.

Kindness breeds happiness.

According to research, one of our basic emotions is to be kind. Not so strange, considering that we would not have survived in the beginning of our lives without the care and goodwill of another human being. Humans are responsive and since we depend on other people from day one to survive, it is also not so strange that a basic behavior is to be kind to others. It would also mean that we depend on other people for our own happiness. If I smile at another person, he or she usually smiles back. Kindness leads to kindness and kindness therefore breeds happiness. This is not unique to humans, even animals react positively to care and kindness.

To achieve happiness, it is our minds that we need to train. Unfortunately, people focus mostly on external development, but to find the real source of joy, we also need to look within ourselves. In order to change and develop the world, we need to increase humanity's emotional intelligence and willingness not to harm others but rather to help each other. That is we need to increase compassion and active concern for others and their well-being. Compassion can develop self-confidence, and self-confidence can give us inner strength, allowing us to act thoughtfully, with openness and sincerity.

You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. - Nelson Mandela

If a person possesses mental joy (is genuinely happy), usually his or her family is happier. If, in turn, families are happy, neighborhoods and nations will be happier. So by each of us working to develop ourselves we can change our human way of life and in that way we can together create a world full of compassion - what I would call a more sustainable and happy world. But one must not forget that humans are also greedy and along the way we can be faced with challenges and problems. Let's not lose focus but constantly remind ourselves and each other that we basically want the same thing - to feel good. And really, I believe that everyone has the right to a sustainable and happy life. So don't give up continue to be kind and "think kind thoughts" even in the most difficult situations.

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion - Dalai Lama

// Lina Edenfelt Holst

Development Coach, Health Instructor & Lecturer