"Are you truly happy? Do you even know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness?"

These are important questions for anyone who is seeking happiness to ask themselves. I live my life to maintain my own happiness while trying my best to not cause unhappiness to anyone else. If you want to be happy, you need to understand that you can be happy and that you should be happy. Many people make the mistake of believing that they don’t deserve happiness and accept their unhappy state as their destiny. The truth of the matter is that happiness, like anything else in life, needs to be nurtured. 


So, here's my choice of happiness:

1. Connection to Others -- 'at the very heart of your being' Make a list of friends you haven't contacted in a while but you would like to, and call them.
2. Autonomy -- 'a feeling of independence and a sense of being in control' Go to as many establishments as possible and strike up a conversation with the service people.
3. Self-Esteem -- 'a function of how you perceive others view you' Catch yourself every time you make a self-deprecating comment.
4. Competence -- 'relates to how effective you feel you are' Ask the people in your life to tell you when they think you've done something well.
5. Purpose -- 'fulfillment and meaning throughout your life' Ask your friends and acquaintances to describe what they see as their purpose beyond making money or caring for others.
6. Connection to Your Body -- 'vital to our complete sense of self' Throw out all your magazines that feature impossibly perfect-looking men/women on the covers.
7. Connection to Nature -- 'its permanence, its beauty and power' Walk in a park or other natural area for twenty minutes each day. Pat at least one dog and talk to its owner.
8. Spirituality -- 'a powerful weapon against depression' Make a list of all the things you believe in that give you comfort.

Happiness is hard to define but most people are aware of whether they are happy or not. Many people believe that happiness is a form of luck and that some people are destined to be happy while others are destined to be unhappy.


But actually, happiness is just a matter of CHOICE. Be happy! :)