Do you recognize your own happiness?

Many people go through life never really appreciating their happiness.  They never stop and relish in enjoyable moments.  This is really tragic.

We hurry to the next thing.  We press on towards higher achievement.  We continually seek more, but when do we just stop and celebrate our happiness?

This lack of recognizing our own well-being and contentment is one of the reasons that we often feel so empty and unfulfilled.  We simply don’t take the time to appreciate the simple, but meaningful moments in our lives.

Do You Know If You Are Happy?

Being happy is something you have to learn. I often surprise myself by saying "Wow, this is it. I guess I’m happy.”  ~ Harrison Ford

Have you stopped to evaluate your own happiness lately? When was the last time that you nodded in the affirmative, smiled to yourself and said, “I’m doing okay and I’m really happy.”?

As a kid, did you ever sing the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It”?  It goes like this:

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it,
And you really want to show it,
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
A common variation of the 4th line is "Then your face will surely show it.”
source: Wikipedia

As adults, I think we can learn a thing or two from this song.  We can learn to stop and take a moment to recognize our own happiness.  We can also learn to physically express and celebrate it.

As I’ve I already warned, Life Is Too Short.  We cannot let precious moments of happiness simply slip away from us without relishing in them.

Sources of Happiness to Recognize and Celebrate

Real happiness does not come from possessions, wealth or power.  Hollywood is littered with examples of the truth in this statement.  Here are some of the places where I think we are most likely to find happiness to celebrate:

1.  Clarity

No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth. 
~ Francis Bacon

You will likely feel happy when you have clarity about yourself, your life direction and your surroundings.  In other words, when you can honestly and openly see and accept the truth.  A lot of misery is the result of just the opposite.  Struggling against the truth rarely, if ever, works out in a positive manner.  Celebrate your happiness when you have clarity.

2.  Hope

Hope is itself a species of happiness, and perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.  ~ Samuel Johnson

Hope is the feeling that you have something to look forward to with reasonable confidence.  Generally, when we have hope, we have happiness.  Hope often comes when we start taking positive action in the right direction.  Therefore, work toward a desired goal can make us happy.  We should acknowledge our hope and be glad in it.

3.  Personal Freedom

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

No matter where you are or what you’re circumstances, no one can take away the freedom you have in your heart.  Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, wrote, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  Be happy for the inner freedom you have to be you and to choose your responses to life.

4.  Inner Peace

The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. And happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy.  ~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Do you choose to be happy?  Are you at peace with yourself and your choices?  As the quote above states, happiness comes from our attitude and not the external circumstances of our lives.  Attitude is the way we choose to view our life and circumstances.  The inner peace that results from adopting the right attitudes leads to happiness worth celebrating!

If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

If you are happy and you know it, then I applaud you.  You have mastered some very difficult mental obstacles.  You should clap your hands and applaud yourself.  It is likely a result of clarity, hope, freedom and inner peace.

If you aren’t sure about your happiness, then maybe this article has prompted you to think about it.  I encourage you to choose to be happy.  We only have one life and it goes fast.  Life is too short to be unhappy!