I’ve led a pretty interesting life filled with many lessons, the most important of which is the ability to distinguish genuine from artificial happiness. What separates the two is the longevity and depth of satisfaction it carries. Feel free to disagree but I have found only a handful of things to hold any bearing in true happiness. Having everything you NEED is the most fundamental and arguably the most important. Shelter, food, water and health are in my book the only true human needs and if all these things are fulfilled happiness is just around the corner. Mental health is as important, if not more so, than physical health and should be ones primary focus in life. Stimulating your mind, seeking knowledge and internal reflection is key to happiness.
Once these four rudimentary elements of happiness are fulfilled only two things remain: companionship and personal gratification. Surrounding yourself with genuine people is the most consistent way of lifting your spirits. Dependable, loyal, compassionate and stable relationships tend to ease all “real” pressures and strains in life. These people are easily recognizable. They are the ones who can identify your ups and downs before you do and share in the emotions you’re experiencing. They tend to make themselves available and even when you’re separated by distance or commitments they manifest with an open mind and heart. They may disagree with you but are intrigued by your opinion and try their hardest to relate with your thought process. Only a handful of relationships in your life will satisfy these qualifications. If at all times you have even just one of these companions you should consider yourself extremely fortunate.
Personal gratification comes in many forms; most are known as “instant gratifications” which lead to the artificial happiness I try to identify and weed out of my life. Having the newest technology, trendiest clothes and most expensive car; masturbating, promiscuous sex and partying are just a few forms of personal gratification that carry with them an illusion of happiness. All these things are luxuries people tend to coin as needs when in reality all they do is cloud our perception of what’s really important. The one form of personal gratification I consider most pure, beneficial and significant when considering one’s happiness is the fulfillment of long-term goals.
In order to experience this form of happiness one must first identify what they value most. Once you’ve done that it’s as simple as deciding what about those things you have yet to accomplish or improve upon. Finally you need a way to quantify or gauge the completion of what you want to achieve. Setting a time by which to attain your goal is sometimes useful but unnecessary and can often lead to a negative experience. If you're always worried about running out of time you may feel you’ve let yourself or others down and lose sight of why you set the goal in the first place. I find open-ended goals with checkpoints in the foreseeable future allow you to remain realistic, stay on task and enjoy the rewards of patience and consistency.
Nothing I’ve said is groundbreaking and I’m sure you’ve all had similar thoughts. I simply find it important to remind myself of what truly matters in life and useful to put it into words. Like I said earlier, reflection is key to mental health. A healthy mind is a realistic and unimpressionable mind. Without this we are coerced into believing things we don’t need will bring us happiness. Living with a heart filled with want leads to gluttony, greed and evil. It’s time to recognize our resources as limited and treat them as such. Instead of trying to buy happiness build it, cultivate it, maintain it and share it.
No comments:
Post a Comment