Find your own moment of happiness, daily
I believe happiness is a state of mind. Even the great Hellen Keller agrees with me. She once said that happiness depends very little on outside circumstances.
Many of us tie in the meter of our happiness with physical comforts and riches. When we have very little, we believe that getting to a certain station in life will make us happy; when we have wealth and resources, then a fancy car or a lot of jewellery becomes our next fixation.
But if that were the case, there would never be unhappy wealthy people!
Happiness, a state of tranquillity and satisfaction, is always a journey. Once I realised this and learnt to find my joy in the smaller things in life, things began to feel more peaceful – something close to a beautiful sense of nirvana.
My take-away from all this is simple – finding happiness isn’t a one-time job. It’s an ongoing process, so I embraced the need to work every day to find my moments of joy. And over time, it became easier.
Something as basic as being able to find the time to exercise and revere my body makes me happy. For my friend, her moment of daily joy is when she comes home and her little puppy licks her face with glee.
My work too gives me immense satisfaction in this regard when I see the women, who’ve had to lead very stoic lives forever, get up and dance, or exercise. I get to see them discover their moments of joy.
And that’s where I believe one should start – a moment a day.
But the question now is, how does one find their own moment-a-day? It feels like a task, right? In the middle of work and life, having to dedicate yet another few minutes to finding contentment feels like another thing on one’s to-do list. But ask yourself this, ‘What am I working for? Why do I go through the grind of daily life?’
And you’ll probably come up with this answer, ‘I want to feel satisfied within myself and with my family.
Here are some things that I love doing!
Meditation There’s a lot of power in connecting with one’s inner consciousness. Meditation helped me familiarise with myself and my happy triggers. The ability to focus on my breathing helped me set the tone for my day in a tranquil manner. And the effects were evident in my body language and how I carried myself!
The Pursuit of Hobbiness As children, we had multiple hobbies. Some of us liked sports, some read books all day long, some danced and some made music. So, where did our hobbies go in the hustle and bustle of adulthood? I decided to connect with my inner child, and devoted a few minutes every day. Satisfaction came calling, and quickly! The difference it made to my day was immense!
A Bit of Time for the People Around Me The law of nature is such—the more you give, the better it makes you feel! My work is such that I get to find different ways to help others around me. And as I said earlier, it does give me great satisfaction. Multiple research studies have shown that being kind not only helps others who need your assistance, but can also improve your mood, directly affect your self-esteem, and yes, make you happy.
The more you tie in your happiness with things outside yourself, the more you depend on the stars aligning in your favour to feel joy. It doesn’t always work like this.
Great saints and monks have been trying to crack the hierarchy of needs and motivation. At the top of it all is transcendence or self-actualisation. It’s where you’re satisfied having truly fulfilled your needs and potential.
Well, it takes these monks and saints years of penance to get there. But we can do a bit of it in our daily lives and find our moment-a-day!