Answering a simple question of what things make you happy in life is not an easy task. The chances are that the things that you assume give you happiness in life may not be what you think they are. So, dump all the assumptions and start scientifically by exploring about what makes you happy.
It may be a long process when you begin the exploration of what makes you happy in life. You will discover that the things you think make you happy may not compulsorily make others happy too. A scientific way of discovering what makes you happy is by gathering information about how you spend your days and recording that data.
Record daily events in your life in a personal diary
When you record what you do on a particular day and what things make you especially happy, it will help you observe patterns concerning happy emotions. During this process, you will also learn about pursuing new hobbies and understanding what you value most in life. You will also be able to concentrate on important factors that make every person happy in a common way.
Start rating your days. Look for familiar patterns and this can be done with the help of creating data. Take out time at the end of the day to write down about how you felt about certain things that happened. You will be able to sift out after a few days and observe a common pattern of what things make you really happy. It could be events such as distributing cardigans to orphans that day or reading a good book or watching a good movie or helping a friend out of a tight emotional situation.
When you record information about daily events, you have to keep a check on how you express about your aspirations in life. Even when you achieve various things that you may strive for, you are likely to be disillusioned sometime in the future when those same things do not make you continually happy. You may find that things that inspired you in the past are now making you feel disconnected and hollow. Keep an open mind and remember that regardless of what happens in your life, there will always be things that you will come across on your daily path that may challenge your fixed notions about what makes you happy and how lasting or attainable that happiness would be.
Look for those small things in your daily life that make you happy
The grandiose and the larger events do not make up the bigger slice of your life; it is the smaller things that give you true happiness. Best things happen to you through smaller packages. The problem with majority of people is that they are not able to recognize these small things in their lives. People tend not to think too much about these smaller packages nor open them.
Happiness does not remain constant throughout the day. People tend to float in and out of it. If you want to know what makes you really happy, you will have to stop taking things for granted and pay full attention to those deeds or emotions that bring you real joy. The art of staying happy lies in adding on those little things that make you smile and reducing those things out of your life which tend to wipe away the smile from your face. When you are able to control this addition and subtraction, it will give you a pretty decent outlook on what really makes you happy. In the end, when you are ready to leave this world, you will be able to carry these good memories with you. It is not at all wise to waste your energy holding on to those thoughts or deeds that did not bring happiness to you.
To conclude, the key to finding happiness is in making mental or concrete notes about what went on during a particular day that made you feel good or smile. It is also important to pay attention to those small things that are likely to get ignored such as saying `thank you’ or `let us go out for a drive and unwind’ to your loved one, dear friend or a family member.
