Do you know what the key is to understanding happiness?
Now this took me a while to fully understand as throughout our whole lives we’re taught that happiness comes from success, from having money, from other people, from going to nice places, from having nice things
But we’ve actually got it the wrong way round. Happiness doesn’t come from these things. No amount of money or nice cars or any relationship can ever bring you happiness.
Because the problem of always looking outside of yourself and seeking more, is that you can never have enough. And you’re always left wanting more.
Someone showed me this amazing story and I think it sums everything up perfectly, it goes…
‘ I talked to a married guy and he was telling me about the good old days when he was single. I spoke to a single guy and he was telling me how he wished he had a partner like that married couple’
‘ I talked to a rich man who wished he could go back to the simpler days and I talked to a poor person who wished they had all the riches in the world ‘
‘ I talked to an old lady who was recalling her youth and I talked to a young girl who couldn’t wait to become a grown up’
‘… then I thought about it and realised that they lack contentment. Everyone wants to be someone else because they think happiness doesn’t come from within. ‘
And it’s true. We actually miss the trick of where happiness comes from by placing our happiness in the hands of others, or other situations. We think that when we get to a certain situation or certain point in our lives that we will be happy.
But, I’ve come to realise that happiness isn’t a destination that you arrive at. It only comes from within.
I have spent, a lot of my life chasing jobs, chasing money, chasing status and trying to make other people happy by placing my happiness in their hands.
What I’ve realised is that our happiness only comes from within – it’s something that you feel, it’s something that you live.
It’s not something that you can search for or something that you can instantly just become.
It’s not a place or a destination that you arrive at. The truth is that the journey IS the destination. The journey IS happiness. Not the end destination, wherever it may be.
I’ve spent a lot of time around dogs over the past years and it’s amazing how a dog can be happy sitting on the sofa, it can be happy running in the park, it can be happy getting muddy running through puddles, it can be happy alone, it can be happy playing with it’s toys and it can be happy sleeping.
And this is because they can find happiness in every situation. They live every situation while they experience them. They don’t get hung up on any potential or past situations.
The key to understanding happiness is that it’s something that comes from deep inside you, by appreciating everything you have in your life. By showing more gratitude and seeing the joy and love in every moment.
And in the amazing words of Oprah: Be thankful for what you have and you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough”
Peace and love,
Alex