Happiness Defined

Happiness is an enduring positive psychological stage of mind.

"Success is getting what you want;

happiness is wanting what you get."

Attaining Happiness

Happiness can be attained in numerous ways: virtuous living, love, continuous creative activity, and many others.

According to Immanuel Kant, "Happiness is the satisfaction of all our desires: extensive in regard to their multiplicity, intensive in regard to their degree, protensive in regard to their duration."

So,  attaining happiness is all about managing your desires.

"A well guarded mind brings happiness. Those who are free from all worldly desires will attain Nirvana. Never covet what others have. It is deadly sin which grows away from all happiness. Learn to be happy with what you have,"  taught Buddha.

Life-Business Synergy

Happiness is not about life-business balance, it's about Life-Business Synergy.

The Cause of Unhappiness

"If you look carefully you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy. Again and again we need to let go." – Anthony de Mello

Choose To Be Happy

The only source of happiness – and unhappiness – comes from inside yourself.

Happiness is not something that comes to you. It is something you create now, today. Waiting for something to change in order to be happy is waiting to live your life. It is not what happens to you that counts. It is how you react to what happens to you. It is your attitude. When you adopt a positive attitude, life becomes a rewarding adventure instead of something to get through.

Do What You Love and Share With Others

If you wish to be happy, you have to be less involved in your own happiness and more involved in the happiness of other beings. "Make others happy and you become happy as a result. Involve yourself totally, throw yourself into what you are doing in life, and happiness will result. If you are compromising, i.e. doing something you hate as a means to an end so that good will result one fine day, STOP! Begin to do more of what you love NOW and let that grow until it fills your life. Then happiness will be yours, and you will be better able to bring happiness to the world," says Asoka Selvarajah.

→ The Power of Passion

Know Your Higher Self

"Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don't find happiness, you make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings YOU the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run," says David Leonhardt.

Like everyone, you want joy, happiness and life purpose. "But the problem is, most people are looking in all the wrong places. Career. Money. Relationships. Power.  Yet, esoteric teachings claim all answers lie within you. They describe a secret jewel inside within the heart. The treasure of infinite value. The divine essence called... The Higher Self," says Asoka Selvarajah, the author of The 7 Golden Secrets to Knowing Your Higher Self,

Knowing What You Want

Do you have a dream? Do you want something to change in your life? Not knowing what you want can be a confusing, frustrating and miserable time. Discover what it is that you want, what goals will make you happy.

The Importance of Values and Mission

The clearer you are about what you value and believe in, and what you stand for, the happier and more effective you will be. The values you choose for yourself, and the order of priority you place on your choices, will determine your approach to your life and work.

Breaking Free of Routine

Most people are living life on autopilot. Routine one of the most powerful obstacles you will ever encounter. Routine is so dangerous and so powerful that even the best of intentions can be knocked down for good because of it. Breaking free of routine is like bursting through a brick wall with nothing but opportunity on the other side. You'll see the world in an entirely new way and be excited about creating a happier, more successful future, says Jason Gracia, the author of Motivation123.

Knowing You Are Competent and Capable

Being inwardly happy (knowing you are competent and capable) automatically improves levels of quality and excellence in your work.  Understand that inner happiness only comes about via Self esteem + Self respect + Personal Pride.  Get these ingredients right and with careful written planning the rest will simply fall into place... More

Buddhism about Happiness

"The first step in seeking happiness is learning. We first have to learn how negative emotions and behaviors are harmful to us and how positive emotions are helpful. We must also realize that these negative emotions are not only very bad and harmful to one personally, but are also harmful to society and the future of the whole world," teaches Dalai Lama.

It is time we sought happiness from a different source. Happiness is a state of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions. If our mind is pure and peaceful we shall be happy, regardless of our external circumstances, but if it is impure and unpeaceful we can never be truly happy, no matter how hard we try to change our external conditions. We could change our home or our partner countless times, but until we change our restless, discontented mind we shall never find true happiness.

 Case in Point  The Dalai Lama's Approach

Dalai Lama believes that happiness can be achieved through compassion and training the mind. From his perspective there is an inextricable link between one's own personal happiness and kindness and caring and compassion towards others. It's not only from the Dalai Lama's perspective – from his particular view of life and Buddhist philosophy – but also from the scientific standpoint that shows that happy people are much more likely to show compassion. What's remarkable is this amazing link between happiness and kindness towards others. Happier people are more likely to help the other person. But the Dalai Lama feels that it works the other way around as well. That the deliberate cultivation of kindness and compassion and caring and tolerance and forgiveness and these type of things will make one a happier person.

Dalai Lama's approach to achieving happiness begins with distinguishing between spirituality and religion. To have a spiritual dimension in your life, you should appreciate your potential as a human being and recognize the importance of inner transformation through a process of mental development.

The art of happiness has many components. It begins with developing an understanding of what are the truest sources of happiness and setting your priorities in life based on the cultivation of those sources. "It involves an inner discipline, a gradual process of rooting out destructive mental states and replacing them with positive, constructive states of mind, such as kindness, tolerance, and forgiveness."² Balance is a key element of a happy life.

 Case in Point  Bertrand Russell about Happiness

"There is not law of nature guaranteeing that mankind should be happy. Everybody can see that this is true of our life here on earth, but by a curious twist our very sufferings in this life are made into an argument for a better life hereafter. We should not employ such an argument in any other connection. If you had bought ten dozen eggs from a man, and the first dozen were all rotten, you would not infer that the remaining nine dozen must be of surpassing excellence; yet that is the kind of reasoning that "the heart" encourages as a consolation for our sufferings here below."¹

 Case in Point  Bob Griffiths

Stressed out and deeply in debt, Griffiths left a six-figure Wall Street position in 1988 to pursue his dream as a playwright, actor, and teacher. He sold his eighteenth-century mansion and downsized his luxury lifestyle, and he found happiness in the process.