Six Simple Steps to Choosing Joy Every Day
In the late 1900s, a great many of us set out on a profound quest for meaning and personal mastery, seeking guidance and solutions that may lead to a more fulfilled and meaningful life. During this period, the self-help and personal development industries were experiencing a boom, which led to a proliferation of authors and speakers offering their perspectives on how to live a better life.
Legends such as Tony Robbins were motivated by emphasizing the importance of attitude and decisive action in their dynamic approaches to achievement and personal power. Zig Ziglar’s charming and motivational speeches taught us the importance of establishing goals, having an optimistic outlook, and persevering. Marianne Williamson brought a more profound spiritual element to the debate by inviting us to consider our connections with one another and the universe via the concepts found in her interpretations of “Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles” in her book A Return to Love.
Throughout my research, I read “Happiness Is a Choice” by Barry Neil Kaufman while browsing bookstores, attending seminars, and attending lectures. This book stood out because it gave a somewhat different perspective from the others. According to Kaufman’s research, happiness is a personal choice, an internal state that may be nurtured regardless of external circumstances. Being successful or controlling the external facets of your life is not the only result. This is much like Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which focuses on the internal resilience and free will that nobody can ever take away.
With its shift in emphasis from external achievements to inward growth, “Happiness Is a Choice” was a refreshing change of pace. Happiness is not something that “happens to you,” says Kaufman. Instead, it’s a decision you can make regardless of the obstacles life presents. Since it presented a new perspective on my quest for mastery, and the book placed a strong emphasis on personal responsibility for mental health while also providing practical methods for making happy choices every day, this book really impacted me.
Kaufman’s book went beyond being just another self-help book to become a guide to altering my outlook on life and attitude – if I remembered to choose happiness. This really rounded out the works of Ziglar, Robbins, and Williamson by adding a crucial element of the inner path to happiness and satisfaction. Finding “Happiness Is a Choice” became a missing piece of the jigsaw on the challenging path to realizing what it means to lead a fulfilled and cheerful life as a result. And quite frankly, it’s something I have forgotten for many years.
In my quest for happiness, happiness sometimes seems to be an elusive objective that is greatly influenced by external circumstances or life milestones. But, remembering that happiness is not only the result of circumstances but a purposeful choice we can make every day is now something I reflect on daily. Below, I examine six shortcuts to happiness from Kaufman’s work that may assist you in rediscovering the joy in your life and understanding that the decision to be happy is indeed a decision to stop feeling unhappy by finding the good and the worthy in each day — and each moment.
The choices we get to make are:
- Make happiness the top priority.
- “Happiness first! Happiness now!” This sentence effectively conveys the importance of putting your happiness first in life, even if it may seem a little theatrical. Putting your happiness first is a crucial decision, even when it may seem self-serving to others. Putting happiness first has nothing to do with hedonism; instead, it has to do with taking care of yourself and realizing your value. We often put off being happy until the “perfect” time.
- Preserve genuineness
- Staying true to your identity is the second shortcut to happiness. It’s about letting go of the roles and identities we adopt that don’t align with our true selves. Adopting personal honesty in a culture where comparison and judgment are commonplace is a necessary part of accepting oneself completely. This honesty allows us to simplify our lives and establish the path to true happiness by letting go of masks and accepting who we indeed are.
- Suspend Judgment
- The third shortcut is to let go of judgment of ourselves and others. Letting go of our deeply held judgments may allow us to meet and connect with more fulfilling people. This is not giving up on judgment but instead letting go of the harsh, critical judgments that get in the way of our happiness. The wings of compassion and nonjudgment are the ones that convey happiness, love, and acceptance.
- Be Present
- Being present and engaging in mindfulness exercises are fundamental behaviors that enhance our general health, even if they are not the newest trends in wellness. Being in the present moment allows us to engage with life fully, reduces stress, and enhances our appreciation for it. In addition to allowing us to live more fully, presence allows us to find joy in the present moment, whether by engaging in nature, meditation, or just immersing ourselves in a meaningful discussion.
- Be Grateful
- Gratitude and joy are intimately associated. Cultivating a gratitude habit may considerably enhance our perspective on life. By focusing on what we are grateful for, we may change our perspective from what we lack to what enriches us. Gratitude draws attention to the good aspects of our lives and is a powerful shortcut to happiness.
- Decide to be happy.
- Finally, the best shortcut is to choose to be happy. As straightforward as this choice may seem, it actually boils down to consistently choosing joy over misery and happiness over unhappiness. Making this choice each day may result in a life with greater happiness and fewer regrets.
Happiness each and every day
These six happiness shortcuts are habits that change the way we approach life, not just pieces of advice. People around us and our happiness are both positively impacted by our choice of happiness. Remember that we come into this world with all the resources we need to be happy; now is the time to put them to use. By enabling us to shift our attention from discomfort quickly, each of these shortcuts boosts our capacity to experience happiness—the profound joy that arises when we are not actively engaging in sadness.
