What Is Happiness?

If you ask your friends and relatives «What is happiness?» be ready to hear a lot of different answers.

One person cannot be happy without love and family, while another person needs to be respected by the others.

Some people want to have a life, full of fun and entertainment, while other people will be satisfied with a bowl of rice and a pair of shoes. There are also people who think that only one of these aspects of happiness is not enough; they want to have all of them at once.

The question “What is happiness?” cannot have the only possible answer, and this fact has been repeatedly proved by the greatest intellects of different ages, including writers, philosophers, scientists, journalists and thinkers.

We may not be able to answer this question, but we can work out several ways that will help a person to find happiness.

What is Happiness, According to Famous People?

The explanatory dictionary defines happiness as the state of joy, complete satisfaction and emotional upheaval.

In other words, I would characterize this state as “Awesome!” or “Super!”  😎

Even Aristotle tried to answer the question “What is happiness?”. According to him, a soul of a person who leads a virtuous life deserves to feel complete satisfaction.

On the contrary, Leonardo Da Vinci, a hardworking artist whose heritage includes many masterpieces, thought that only a diligent person can find happiness.

Grygoriy Landau, a famous Russian journalist, shared Da Vinci’s opinion. He used to say that only bad things happen for no reason, while the feeling of greatest joy presupposes a lot of hard work to be done.

In his turn, the author of many aphorisms Kozma Prutkov (for those, who aren’t familiar with this name: Kozma Prutkov is a group of authors, who wrote under one pen-name) said: “If you want to be happy, just do it!”

This opinion I like most of all.

I always say that our happiness depends only on ourselves.

If you are constantly complaining about problems and discontent from your life, you should accuse not other people or bad luck, but yourself!

Useful to know: 7 Ways to Be Happy

How My Friend Has Understood What Happiness Is

Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.
Carnegie, Dale.

When I went to school, I had a friend called Alyona.

She always studied hard and dreamt of becoming a doctor. Her parents couldn’t afford to pay for the course of studies at the local medical university, so Alyona moved to Poland, where she worked as a junior nurse for a year and then received a diploma of a hospital nurse.

Later, her relatives that lived in Spain offered her to enter the University of Barcelona, because local authorities always encouraged young and smart foreigners to receive higher education there.

Having learned both written and spoken Spanish in three months, Alyona became a student.

Despite the kindness of her relatives who provided her with a place to live, Alyona still needed money.

She found a job, but it was very difficult for her to combine work with study. During the 4 th year of studies Alyona fell into depression.

She often complained to me about her constant fatigue and exhaustion. She made up her mind to quit everything and return home. Alyona stopped understanding what happiness is and where it can found.

Fortunately, Alyona managed to make some effort and pull oneself together.

She graduated from the university and applied for internship.

Right now Alyona is planning her wedding with a great guy.

She says that she is very happy and doesn’t regret suffering from some problems in the past.

Now she knows for sure that the way to happiness is not easy to find.

Happiness Is…

The first step you have to make is to ask yourself a question «What is happiness?«.

You don’t have to make your answer lofty and nicely structured.

You are not Aristotle, and nobody will read your words. Don’t try to answer this question in one sentence.

It’s even better if you come up with several points. In this way, you will be able to express the essence of this issue.

For example, in my opinion happiness is:

1. Good health and well-being of my relatives, friends and my own
2. Self-improvement in my spheres of interest
3. Enough money for a decent life
4. Satisfaction from private life

Now let’s try to figure out what I have to do (and I’m currently doing this!) in order to find happiness.

I’d like to analyze each point of our list.

1. Good health and well-being of my relatives, friends and my own

   I do the following:

   • Go in for sports
   • Eat healthy food
   • Take vitamins
   • Always attend doctors and follow their recommendations when I fall ill
   • Teach my relatives and friends to do the same things

2. Self-improvement in my spheres of interest

   
   I do the following:

   • Read many useful books
   • Conduct an interesting web project
   • Dedicate myself to my work (which I’m fond of, by the way)
   • Attend different trainings and courses
   • Watch useful thought-provoking videos, ignoring trash that is shown on TV

3. Enough money for a decent life

   I do the following:

   • Work hard
   • Search new ways of receiving an income
   • Think about the future, not trying to waste all my money in one week
   • Choose tasks by the principle “It can bring me some profit”, not by the principle “I like it”
   • Realize myself as a good specialist

4. Satisfaction from private life

   I do the following:

   • I wasn’t afraid of first dates when I was alone
   • Improve my appearance and intellect to keep my beloved interested in my personality
   • I’ve taken into account my past mistakes and try to get rid of my faults
   • I don’t only receive love and care from my boyfriend, but also try to give it back
   • Work daily on our relationships, trying to find full harmony with my beloved

Now you have to do the same.

You should make a list of your components of happiness and the ways for its achievement.

Don’t be afraid of possible problems or misunderstanding, they are always accompanying a successful person.

Don’t be afraid to change your life completely, it’s impossible to find happiness without doing it. Take a risk if you know that happiness is somewhere around.

I can often hear people saying: “Who prevents me from finding happiness?”

The answer is obvious: walk up to the mirror and look into the eyes of the person who prevents you from achieving your dreams.

Only you are able either to reach the top, or to live all your life being miserable.