Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. ~ Denis Waitley
I think most people accept the idea that we become a product of our environment and I was fortunate to live with a grandma who used to say it’s as easy to see the good side of life and enjoy it, as it is to focus on the bad side and be unhappy.
If something in your life isn’t to your liking and you’re feeling unhappy, it’s up to you to change it.
If that’s not possible change the way you see it, your point of view, your thinking. Take grandma’s advice…she was often right.
An easy way to reprogramme yourself for greater happiness is to spend time with someone who inspires you.
These words of wisdom from great minds give some helpful hints on happy living.
Happiness consists in activity. It is a running steam, not a stagnant pool. ~ John Mason Good
Today’s the day to choose growth over stagnation. But you must choose change, choose happiness and abundance. If you keep repeating the old patterns of thought it’s not likely that you’ll be stirring up the stream of life.
Breaking with old paradigms can be painful…they’ve been your security blanket. But if motivated by a higher purpose, the willingness to replace old habits moves you on an upward spiral of maturity and happiness.
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions–the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
You can change someone’s whole world with a smile or a kind word. Leave a trail of happiness where ever you go because some of it can and must rub off on you.
You can never know the impact you make when you decide that every encounter you have results in the encouragement and uplifting of another.
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. ~ Jim Rohn
Don’t be in a perpetual state of waiting for all your ducks to be in a row before you feel happy.
Far too many of us will be happy when.
When we have our best romance, when the kids are grown, when we have our degree.
Remember tomorrow never comes. No more excuses. Deliver happiness to yourself today.
Affirm that something wonderful comes from every experience and don’t let anyone or anything steal your joy. You are in control of how you feel.
An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness. No reward coming after the event can compare with the sweet reward that went with it. ~ Maurice Maeterlinck
Kind acts fill us with a sense of worthiness. Choosing loving kindness in your life experiences allows you to effortlessly attract situations that lead to a truly happy and worthwhile existence.
You’ll often find that doors that might previously have been closed mysteriously open for you.
Train your mind to focus on and believe in acts of kindness to yourself as a well as to others and the message you are impressing on your subconscious is that you are deserving of universal abundance. It’s always a win/win.
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. ~ Buddha
Contribution is what gives life meaning and you are here on this planet with gifts and talents and strengths and weaknesses and maybe a little weirdness. Glory in it. Glory in you and don’t allow anyone to determine the direction of your life because of the way they see you.
Within you is a powerful force, nurture and cherish it. Your mind is the creator of your life experience. Use it to transcend your present level of living.
Train your mind so that it only attracts positive things. You do this by keeping your mind on what you want most, by repetition, by action. When you get your mind under control, you’ll have a more exquisite, thrilling, happy and full life.
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
It’s all too easy to overlook the commonplace everyday experiences that contain joy and happiness.
Keep your eyes open for those happy moments that are sprinkled throughout your day, the first flowers of spring, the sound of laughter in the air, someone smiling at you or sharing a kind word, feeling love.
Instead of seeking a lifetime of happiness, look for some beauty, some sense of fulfillment in your moments. Your whole life is made up of tiny moments.
Being happy doesn’t mean everything in your life, is always perfect. If things aren’t working out and you have more moments of misery than happiness right now, be kind to yourself.
Be patient. And don’t give up your power to outside influences, believe in your ability to manage your life through the power of the choices you make and the beliefs you hold.
Do you have any words of wisdom that support happiness in your life?
Thanks, as always for reading, commenting and sharing. You are joy bringers in my world.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
32 Comments
Hi Elle; thanks for sharing these words of wisdom with us. I was thinking about it. I believe part of our problem is the magic of the movies and tv shows. In the movies we only see that perfect take that sometimes takes dozens of trials to get just right. We don’t see all the staff it takes to create that perfect visual image. We don’t realize how much its the editor that turns even that raw film into the amazing product we see on the screen. I think we should aspire to the quality of home movies or the early days of tv when shows were recorded live and all the mistakes and bloopers were seen by millions. Life is messy why aren’t our movies tv shows newspapers and magazines also messy? If they were, I bet there would be a lot more happy people. Thanks for sharing and take care, Max
So true Max, when you think about Edison and all the great inventors, they simply persisted through all the seeming failures until the final result was what they wanted. And having an editor in the family I know all too well what goes into producing tv or movies.
Hi Elle; then right now I feel like I’m in their company. Yesterday I recorded my second youtube show video for the calliope corner. One part of it took me 24 tries. I just finished the blog post about the video. I think I spent about five hours on it. I’ve read it and reread it and spell checked the heck out of it. I feel drained. lol Wish I had an editor. smile by the way this one is about a scary ride, so you might not want to watch. the ride video part of the show is about four minutes and you can just close your eyes when the band music starts playing. I did sing again, and that took me a bunch of tries too because my voice wouldn’t settle. well, sorry for rambling. that’s what I get for not just going to bed. Thanks for being such a good friend to all of us. take care, max
Wonderful quotes, Elle! Thank you so much for sharing them. 🙂
What I gathered is that happiness rarely comes from doing selfish acts. I think I watched a video before where a sociologist did an experiment and found out that people are happiest after showing their gratitude to people.
Saying Thank You makes you HAPPY! 🙂
Glori, is that your website? I think you might have made some kind of mistake.
Hi Jeremy! No mistake. 🙂
I’m marketing coordinator for DGH. 🙂
Now I see!
Hi Glori, welcome to the conversation. Makes sense doesn’t it, feeling gratitude leads to happiness. 🙂
Happiness is a choice. From what lens will we view our world? How will we view our challenges? As opportunities from which to learn and grow? It’s not about our external circumstances (after our basic needs are met) but rather about our internal responses. That is why so many people can have ‘bad’ things happen to them and they can grow on and create good lives filled with {new} meaning and purpose. Happiness isn’t about the absence of pain and hardship, since we all have that in our lives at some point (inherent in the human condition), but rather the coexistence of both the good and the difficulties in a manageable and ‘growable’ way. From this we can experience a rich and full life.
Love the way you put this Harriett. Such a wise perspective. 🙂
Elle, I just had a lovely conversation with my daughter this afternoon on this very subject. She is in her twenties and told me she is finally understanding that her happiness is her own responsibility. It is such an empowering moment in life when you realize that life isn’t making you happy or unhappy…you are. You have so many great points in this article, I look forward to sharing it with her tomorrow. Thank you for the wisdom you share Elle – it so uplifting. xo
Hi Karen, how wonderful…wish I’d been that aware when I was twenty…now your daughter is taken over the power for her life and that’s exciting. 🙂
The last quote resonates with me the most. Extracting happiness from common things. Part of that is having an attitude of gratitude which I personally feel should have been a standalone point. It’s that important.
I think it’s worth noting that being happy is really about an overall state of mind. Some people think that “happy” people are literally happy all the time, and that’s totally false. They do have their moments, except that they have the ability to bounce back quickly to their normal state of joy.
In a nutshell,
learn to be grateful for what you have while you go all out to achieve whatever dreams and goals you have. Keep an attitude of gratitude and serve by putting people before you. That to me is fulfillment. That to me is lasting happiness.
Good article, Elle.
Great insights and perspective Jeremy. I especially like your definition of happiness. 🙂
I love how you develop these ideas in your posts, Elle. You are showing us how happiness and abundance are within reach! Today I’m taking away a good reminder, that I need not wait for every duck to align before being happy. I can take action, learn and grow in the process. Happiness is my choice right now and always.
Thanks Martine, who hasn’t waiting for some duck or another to get in line before we move. Like so many concepts and ideas we hold being aware we have them is the first step to letting them go and then the relief is wonderful. 🙂
True words Elle. Wonderful reminders….
Hi Li-ling glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Wonderful quotes and points, Elle, especially the part about being kind to yourself! Thank you…
Thanks for taking the time to stop by Cher and I trust you’re being kind to you? 🙂
I always try and find the happiness in the little things.
And there’s so many in a day isn’t there Poppy. Life is such a blessing. 🙂
Tomorrow never comes. So true. When I was a kid I told my mom, today is yesterday tomorrow. I thought that was so clever. Be patient. That’s the mantra I must remember. Be patient. All those people are not driving slow in front of you just to make you mad, and those people that park their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle while they stare at the shelves are also not trying to make you mad…oh, who are we kidding…they are too…but I shall forgive and be patient … patient…
I think generally speaking we’re just not that important in most other’s lives…in fact they probably don’t give too many of us much thought as they go about their day. But we do have the power to decide how to respond and how to feel…I remember the first time I released needing to control everyone else on the road. Boy did my trip flow more easily. 🙂
Henry Ward Beecher’s quote is my favorite of the lot. Finding happiness in the littlest of things.
She certainly has it right Max. 🙂
Elle,
I love these quotes and sitting here on a Monday I know I have the choice to feel happy and Love Denis Waitley ‘s words and the Buddha spoke to my soul, knowing the my health is my wealth
thank you
Hi Suzie, quotes are pretty powerful reminders of where we are and where we’re headed. Wish I could write my thoughts as succinctly and wrap them up nicely in a quote, like some of these greats. Till then I’ll stick with the masters! 🙂
I love the quotes and wisdom in this post! I think one of the important things to support happiness in my life is to remember that it’s a choice that I can make everyday. I think it’s easy to convince ourselves that it’s others who are making us unhappy. It’s our bosses, our spouses, our children, the guy who is driving too slow on the freeway. In truth, and as you rightfully acknowledge, happiness is our territory. We are responsible for our feelings and can change our feelings each and every day. There’s so much power in that thought.
We’re all so conditioned to look outside ourselves for what’s wrong Jessica so it becomes an easy habit to blame everything on someone else. The problem also means that it’s all too easy to shift that ‘blame’ onto ourselves. When all that’s really happening is consciousness in action. No blame at all, we just experience the products of our thinking and feeling. Responsibility and power should be the name of the game. I think once we get that we have the responsibility to choose what to think, to choose what to feel it becomes a much more fun game to play. 🙂
Hi the quotes are really very encouraging. Happiness is within all of us, we can always choose to be happy, no matter what situation we are in, always try to find the good in everything that we do. Stay positive and stay happy. Thanks for sharing such great quotes.
Hi lynne, Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. So true, so true. 🙂