New Year, New Intention – Choose Happiness

Happy New Year!!

The quest for happiness is eternal. The seeds of happiness were planted with the advancement of civilisation. People knew for centuries what made them feel good. They have tried many ways to make themselves happy and have found various avenues leading to a more joyful life. Modern living is no exception. The pursuit of true happiness continues. Though, at times achieving happiness seems distant, almost beyond our reach.

More so since much reliance has been placed on external sources for providing happiness. We have been finding various means of captivating our interest in order to provide the joyful feeling that we crave. Indulgence has been equated with feeling happy. This leads to retail therapy, extravagance or dependency on substances.

We look for happiness elsewhere!

Running after material things, accumulating wealth, power or status, failing to understand the real source of happiness is from within. All the happiness seeking behaviours are rather pleasure seeking. They can lead to more indulgence and run a risk of becoming addictive. These are centred on satisfying individual desires and wanting to accumulate more. And despite satisfying desire after desire, at times one may feel there is no true feeling of happiness!

Pleasure seeking doesn’t seem to give us a long lasting sense of fulfilment. It only leads to yearning for more! One would imagine you would be the happiest person on this planet after achieving your goals. You would think you have cracked the code of being the utmost happy person by achieving your dream job, or by fulfilling your desires of buying a bigger house, expensive car or simply getting hundreds of followers on social media. And yet happiness seems elusive.

When you reach there you realise you have even more desires and wants!

And guess what? Endless desires lead to even more pleasure seeking behaviours.

These repeated behaviours are creating a mirage of happiness. Researchers have found that all these seemingly happiness creating behaviours are linked to dopamine. With every pleasure seeking act, dopamine is released in the brain. This leads to repeating the indulgent behaviour. Making us want to satisfy more and more of our cravings by creating countless ‘feel good’ behaviours. Resulting in a cycle of seeking pleasure from fulfilling ever increasing wish list or indulging in substances to the extent that they can become addictive! This gives rise to an illusory sense of being happy. No wonder pleasure feels transient. It doesn’t last long. And it’s healthy only in moderation.

On the other hand, true feeling of happiness is long lasting. It is non-dependent on material possessions. It is the utmost feeling of inner satisfaction and wellbeing. It is a state of sustained calm & containment. It is ethereal!

Physical activity brings more happiness, do yoga, walking, jogging, swimming, playing games or simply moving more! You enjoy life more when you have a purpose. You derive much satisfaction from life when you feel connected with the world around you. You have a deep sense of peace when you feel adequate within. You feel happy when you have satisfying relations and when you nurture your social connections. That is when you experience long lasting happiness!

Practice mindfulness, do meditation for at least 7-10 minutes a day. The latter is proven to be a number one stress buster. It releases serotonin. It brings calmness, clarity & strengthens your relations. If you focus on what you like, it gives you pleasure, if you focus on what others like, it gives you happiness. Live life of abundance & balance by choosing happiness.

May you live your happiest version in 2024 & way beyond!

Happiness is a choice! Happiness is looking at life through the eye of optimism, giving, hopefulness & gratitude!