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Human Rights  » The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness

The pursuit of happiness is one of the primary goals of all

humans. This, along with life and liberty, was declared as an

essential right in the US declaration of independence. Every

religion and philosophy has offered its pathway to happiness.

Happiness is a state of mind and there are many paths to it.

There are common prerequisites to sustained happiness as well as

common causes of unhappiness. These usually transcend all

classifications of gender, age or race. There are other factors

which are very individual specific.

What is Happiness

Happiness is a state of the mind. The dictionary definition is

'feelings of joy and pleasure mingled together'. A feeling of

happiness is more than just an experience of joy or pleasure. It

is a state of mind where the individual feels that 'life is

good'.

Becoming Happier

Happiness is a state of mind which can be induced by many means

- some result in short term happiness while others result in

long lasting happiness. One way of inducing long lasting

happiness and bliss is meditation. For a busy person, a more

practical way to becoming happier is to make steady progress

towards meaningful goals. Even though this seems simple, it

really is a very powerful technique to attain a state of long

lasting happiness. The goals may vary from individual to

individual, but for everyone happiness comes from merely making

steady progress towards goals that are meaningful to them. The

key is that goals have to be meaningful to you. Progress towards

goals set by some one else will not bring happiness (unless you

too desire the same goals).

There should be a balance in your goals to ensure that the

prerequisites of happiness are fulfilled. These prerequisites

include good health, sufficient income to meet basic needs,

affection, some productive work or activity, defined and

achievable goals and good attitude. All the money in the world

will not make you happy if you ignore your health or have bad

relationships. Also you must try to remove the causes of

unhappiness from your life. These causes are - lack of any of

the prerequisites for happiness, failure to achieve goals, envy,

relationship problems, loneliness and fear of the opinion of

others.

Studies have shown that a number of factors contribute to

sustained happiness. Some of these are * Good self esteem *

Feeling of control over one's life * Supportive and warm

relationships (marriage/friendship ) * Satisfying work *

Enjoyable leisure activities * Good attitude * Good Health *

Moderation in everything * Impersonal interests

Thus a very effective process of becoming happier is to set

goals for improvement in each one of these areas, start working

towards these goals and then periodically reviewing the progress

towards the goals.

So the first step is to set goals for yourself in the major

aspects of your life. These goals have to be meaningful to you

and they have to be specific and time bound. If the goals are

not meaningful to you, you will derive little happiness from

achieving them. Also if they are not specific and time bound,

you will not be able to measure your progress towards these

goals and thus will not experience the increased happiness which

comes from making steady progress towards your goals. Goals need

to be set for the major aspects of your life which contribute to

happiness - Health, Financial, Relationships, Career, Attitude,

Self Actualization etc.

Then you must assess where you currently are in relation to your

goals. Say if your financial goal is to have savings of twenty

thousand dollars in five years, you need to assess your net

worth today and also your current income and expenses to know

how much you are currently saving.

Next you must set up a time bound action plan to achieve your

goals. For your financial goals this means determining the extra

amount you need to save each month, either by earning more or

spending less or both. Then you need to have a plan for earning

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more and for reducing your expenses. This plan needs to be

specific with amounts and timing e.g. you will reduce expenses

by $50 a month by eating out less often and you will increase

income by $300 a month by taking on a part time job.

Then start implementing your plan and monitor the progress. As

you see yourself meeting your periodic targets, you will find

your happiness increasing. Many of us have experienced the

happiness which comes from steadily losing one pound per week in

a weight loss program. Imagine having the same effect in all

aspects of your life. The important thing in this is to make

steady progress towards your goals. Happiness will grow as you

see yourself making progress. Once you achieve your initial

goals, you need to set new goals - maybe in different areas of

your life e.g. if you have achieved your fitness and financial

goals, aim for making a difference to the world around you.

(Making a difference is a source of deep and long lasting

happiness). Being without a goal after achieving your earlier

ones will reduce your happiness. Say you suddenly inherit some

money and achieve your financial goals, you will be happy for

some time, but the effects will soon wear off as your mind

adjusts to the new level of affluence. To sustain happiness you

will have to set new goals for yourself, maybe in different

areas of your life.

If you faithfully follow this process of making steady progress

towards meaningful goals, you will become happier day by day.

Please visit http://www.myhappiness.com for more information.

Copyright © MyHappiness 2005-2006- All Rights Reserved.

About the author:

Sanjiv Sahay is the editor of My Happiness-Making Life Happier

http://www.myhappiness.com , a website that helps you to find

your own path to sustained happiness by using Happiness

Information, Directory of Resources, online tools and the help

of an online community of your peers. He can be contacted at

editor@myhappiness.com .