“YOU NEED TO LEARN TO BE HAPPY BY NATURE, BECAUSE YOU'LL SELDOM HAVE THE CHANCE TO BE HAPPY BY CIRCUMSTANCE”
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 3:26PM
Annie in Self Help, gaining strength, inspirational quotes, lifestyle

Aristotle wrote” Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” and indeed we chase happiness as if it is a ball just out of reach, if we run faster, reach further, or jump higher, we will have it in our grasp.

We each define happiness in a different way; however it is nearly always about something we want. We know we would be happy if we had money, if someone loved us or if we were recognized for our talents, as if happiness were not a state of being, but a by product of something else.

Thomas Jefferson thought that “Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind” and if we accept that happiness is not a place to travel to, or something to save up for, then we can come to terms with making a conscious choice to be happy, rather than waiting for it to arrive as a response to something that we are constantly seeking but may never find. As we grow older happiness changes its form, so perhaps it is better to grab happiness as it runs by rather than stalk it for years only to find once caught that it isn’t what we are looking for any more.

Often the difference between misery and happiness is like turning a light on, once you flip the switch all aspects of your life are illuminated and we realize that there doesn’t necessarily have to be a particular cause for being happy, except that we are.

When all your desires are distilled, you will cast just two votes:
to love more, and be happy
.     Hafiz of Persia

Title quote by Lavetta Sue Wegman

Article originally appeared on Keep Calm and Relax - tools to fight the stress of everyday life (http://www.keepcalmandrelax.co.uk/).
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