Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Wondering how to be create more happiness in your everyday life? Here are 9 sure shot ways to be instantly happy.
Clothes, mansions, promotions at work, cars and all other material luxuries that money can buy often brings us a fleeting taste of happiness or, in other words, momentary happiness. But to be really happy, we need to invest in experiences and build memories engaging in activities that exhilarate us and with people we love. In fact, minimalism is a great way of maximizing happiness.
By scaling down our material possessions to retain only what’s most essential, we can increase our joy in enjoying the pleasures of a simple life instead of worrying about maintaining and counting our possessions. The more we have, the more we crave; the less we choose to have, the easier it is to be content.
In today’s busy world, we often overlook the simple pleasures our surroundings can offer us. It could be the fragrance of flowers on the street side, or a baby laughing in the neighbourhood, or the immense peace of deep meditation, travelling and perhaps, prayer. Some people, like me, find real happiness connecting with nature, yoga and travelling, and some others, like my mom, find happiness by connecting with God through prayer. We all have different ways of tuning into our inner selves and giving ourselves a break. Finding what our ‘way’ is and doing it is key to finding our unique happiness.
In the words of a song in Barbie the island princess, “Love knows, love grows bigger than before…in your heart there’s always more”. When we choose to care more deeply and for more people, our capacity to love expands because we always have more to give.
Peace is found pursuing in what we love
Often, loving others is the key to being loved and this cycle often has an effect of giving us joy. Peace is found pursuing in what we love. And love is often found in sharing and caring with people, which add up to give guaranteed happiness.
Be kind to others and even more importantly, to yourself. You’re not perfect and life is not perfect.
Don’t blame or give yourself negative pep-talks; instead learn to forgive your own mistakes, to learn from them and move on.
Your smile helps boost the levels of your ‘happy hormones’ like dopamine and decreasing the levels of stress hormone like cortisol, according to research published in Psychology today.
Every time we feel happy, it is because we choose to and not because of the events that are happening around us. If we have the will to be happy every moment, we will find a way to get there regardless of our circumstances.
Last year, I conducted leadership campaigns for several children of an orphanage in my hometown in Tamil Nadu. I was surprised to see how happy the children were, though they had never known their parents and more than 40 of them shared a single room for living space. Their optimism and immense will to keep hoping and dreaming taught me that the obstacles in our life, however daunting they seem, are irrelevant if we have the courage to be grateful for everything we already have. The fact that we are living to breathe this moment and that we have senses to read this article is a proof of how tremendously privileged we are and all the things we should be thankful for. Thankfulness inevitably brings happiness.
Cycle on the Seashore image via Shutterstock
Hi! I'm an often overly-excited, frequently fun-loving, and sometimes deeply-sunk-in-thoughts student of life. Earth and all the stuff in it -especially humans- has always awed me and I love read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
Please enter your email address