Pursuing Happiness (9 Ways)

9 Ways to be happy and make something of your life – Gordon B Hinckley

1. Be Grateful

Being grateful is necessary in achieving happiness. As people we take a lot for granted and often miss noticing how fortunate we are to be alive and to have what we have. If we were to take into consideration all that we have, we would appreciate it so much more and that brings a feeling of fulfillment to our lives that inevitably brings us closer to happiness. Take for example those who do not have homes, we who do are so lucky to have shelter, whether it is a house, an apartment, a loft, we still have a roof over our heads. Then consider those who have no food and no shelter, we who have something to eat complain about eating it when people don’t even have food themselves. Then think of your family, some people don’t have moms, some people don’t have dads, or sisters, or brothers, and we have to be thankful for what we do have in our lives. We never know when those things can be taken from us so we have to consider the moment and realize that we do need certain things in our lives and certain people and honestly we are lucky and blessed even to have them. I will apply this in my life by remembering to give thanks to those i appreciate and demonstrate my appreciation before it’s too late.

2. Be smart

Being smart doesn’t have to mean knowing the names of deep sea creatures, or all the formulas of math concepts. Being smart can be being smart in your decisions such as planning and evaluating your actions. If you are smart and plan ahead for your summer for example, you would have activities to enjoy instead of wasting time being bored. Happiness can come from intelligence. The pride we receive from awards from grades like the honor roll and so on bring us happiness. Knowing more can bring us happiness because we feel more informed and focused on our surroundings.  I f we make smart decisions our life becomes easier and leaves space for more fun and memorable moments. Intelligence can be measured by your decisions you take and the decisions you don’t take, similarly by the knowledge you do have and the creativity you also include. Knowledge is  power. In any situation knowing more makes you superior. Being smart can e unleashing your mind to show more than just what is required.  Use your intelligence to baffle, use it to amaze, use it to find the beauty in life. With knowledge you can also come to recognize so much that ignorance lacks to comprehend, you can find beauty in the way the world is, and that on its own brings happiness as you realize that there is so much out there you have yet to discover. Personally, i will apply being smart in my life by questioning aspects, by learning and discovering, by expanding my mind’s  capability to be free and to believe and dream and reflect and propose ideas, and to find my happiness in noticing and evaluating all i am fortunate to have.

3. Be involved in good works 

Be involved in good activities such as volunteering, or doing something that betters you or others in doing so. Personally i volunteer in a hospital and working in a hospital i attend to all medical professionals and patients. I learn each day about attending to medical procedures and how to assist a patient in need. Taking vitals, feeding, cleaning, paperwork, assisting in loading and unloading ambulance passengers. I also belong to a club in school that focuses on bettering and ensuring personal and general health currently we are working on a fundraiser for funding organizations and research and treatment for  cancer patients. It brings happiness to know you thought of more than yourself. It feels good to help others making sure you are not the only one happy. Being involved in good works also does not mean joining clubs, no it can mean making yourself better, finding ways from bettering your own life. Maybe if you’re an alcoholic, try slowly to drink less and then one day you might actually just stop. Maybe you were involved in gangs once, and now you are not and want to channel your energy for good, maybe recycling, maybe art or writing. Life can always get better, you just have to want it to get better. Just keep your outlook in an area with lots of sunshine and better horizons.

The essential question is what are you doing with your life? Are you happy? Focus on involving things that better life.

I intend to apply this by remaining involved in wholesome involvement in my life.

4. Be clean

Being clean always seems to represent hygiene cleaning but honestly the word clean means being rid of toxins or dirt, or being purified, or cleansed. This can go for a lot of topics. If only the world cared about cleaning their souls and conscience as much as they take showers and wash their clothes. When you think of being clean, you imagine a clean house, clean clothes, and soapy showers.

Everyone can handle spring cleaning, yet they only clean the surface of their lives. Rid your mind and heart of toxins and filth and stains the way you wash your clothes and carpet, and one day you might honestly feel truly clean. Personally i take at least one shower a day sometimes two,morning and night, and i clean my house and organize my things, it helps me feel less cluttered. But sometimes we got to take initiative and clean ourselves out. Clean out the hate from our minds, release the vengeful thoughts, let go of the pain of the past, and truly clean ourselves inside. If you are to rid yourself of the filth inside yourself then you have no choice to be clean.

Some toxins inside us can include:

• Hate
• Greed
• Shallowness
• Envy
• Self pity

Emotions to remove are:

• Anger
• Stress
• Frustration
• Sadness

Only by removing the source of unhappiness can one truly be happy. Did you know? We can choose. We can choose what we feel and how we react as we feel about it. If you feel love people kiss, if you feel sad you can cry or not cry, when you feel mad you can become violent or try to find peace, you can let the world get to you or you can get the world for all that it’s worth.  Clean your mind, your heart, and soul from the dirt of that outside. You wouldn’t let someone walk in your house with dirty shoes staining your clean carpet, don’t let them come in and stain your life or your heart. Remain clean in who you associate with and what you do.

5. Be True

Being true can represent so many things. Being true to your word, being truthful. Being true to who you are. Being true to what you believe in. Life tests us, all the time. Be true to who you are and never letting people change you and what you believe in. Happiness isn’t ever an easy goal, why? because so many people want it, you fight for it, pursue it, you dream and plan for it. Being true to the person you are and to yourself is hard, society makes comments, you start to question yourself, you doubt in your abilities. Being happy is knowing you are who you are and how you are and that it is great. Realize this: everyone wants happiness, everyone is different. Meaning the way you have to pretend to be something else, others do too. The way you want to accomplish things, others do to. Some of us are just swayed by society and temptation and pressure to stray from being true to ourselves. Be true to who you are and understand that who you are is exactly who you are meant to be.

Be true to who you are. For example in Mulan by Disney the character must be true to herself to save her family, her country and herself. We fight for what we need, we fight for happiness by not letting the world change who we are. Change the world but don’t let the world change you. I will continue applying this to find my happiness by remaining who i am and not letting my situation get to me.

6. Be Positive

Life is only going to be happy if you yourself are happy.confident in opinion or assertion; fully assured:emphasizing what is laudable, hopeful, or to the good; constructive. The reason i state this is because you yourself have the power to feel however you choose. Being positive helps you feel great and realize all the good you have. Negativity causes sadness and pain in one. If you are positive and say you are going to accomplish something and will not stop trying until you do then you are eventually inevitably going to accomplish your goal because you were positive and confident that you could. Positive is such a good trait to have and is very useful. Your smile is contagious and can make anyone’s day brighter just by smiling. Positivism is going out there and facing things with a smile and hope for the best. Many people are negative, but it is so rare to find someone happy and that is so valuable. Changed the world but never let the world change you. Going out there and deciding you’re going to make the day joyful and happy and hoping other’s days go well too. Negativity has a way of pulling someone’s mind into darkness, darkness that is hard to crawl out from and sometimes we need kindness and hope to remind us that good is out there. Be positive, and maybe you too can make the world a more positive place.

I intend to be positive because there is so much out there i want. I want to live and be free and happy in the purest way possible. Being positive reminds me that no matter what the situation is, i can always find happiness either for myself or others.

7. Be Humble

Being humble by definition is not being proud or arrogant, having a sense of modesty. Be humble as in don’t boast or make others feel inferior or yourself to feel superior.

8 Psychological Benefits of Being Humble

1. Soothe the soul

2. Excellence in leadership

3. Higher self-control

4. Better work performance

5. Higher grades

6. Less prejudice

7. More helpful

8. Better relationships

Link To PsyBlog Post on being humble

Being humble has always helped in different areas, but most importantly your self mind and morals. Being humble teaches you to acknowledge the small things in life and to realize that you’re doing good, but there is no reason to make others feel bad. It honestly makes you a better leader and a greater one in front of the given people you are leading.

How Humility makes you a leader post on FastCompany

I strive to be humble in all that i do because if i constantly boast upon my self then the success is no longer success but an arrogant comment. I will stay humble to achieve my goals and long after i have achieved them.

8. Be Still 

To Be Still is a conscious state. A state of mind where all outside forces are removed. To Surrender to the Omnipresent. To be one with the universe. A one way line of communication from the powers that be. Waves of Truth. Being still is separating yourself from the current situation and being one with the moment. Close your eyes, separating mind from body, spirit from the body. As if all thoughts are the moment. I propose it would be similar to thinking, remembering, daydreaming or nighthinking. To find that nirvana, that bliss moment of perfection, is to find happiness. When every thought is superior to the external forces. Be still, take mental photographs, remember memories, reflect on the little details of life. Look at the shape of the raindrops, the smiles of those you meet, realize the beauty that is so hidden in the world. You can find the beauty in everything and that makes life beautiful, leaving you in awe of the moment. Starstruck by the wonder of living.

The world is constantly moving that is understandable, but breathe. Find peace in a situation, don’t stress, don’t worry, being happy is not that hard.

9. Be Prayerful

The nine ways to be happy can be used in so many aspects of life. They are ways of learning, reflecting, finding happiness. They keep your soul clean, cleanliness brings clarity. I will appreciate what i have in life, my friends and family. And i will always remember to appreciate what i have before i lose it. I will remember to think and reflect and be smart. To be involved in the good parts of life. To remain clean from my soul. To be true to who i am and what i believe. Stay positive and challenge adversity. To be humble and know that what i do is enough and i do not need recognition. To remain aware of my life and to never stop seeing the beauty in living.