Have you ever wondered what could be the secret recipe for a life full of happiness? What we all learn from experience is that material things like electronic gadgets, big car, beautiful house etc though give us a feeling of happiness but it is short lived. Till the time we don’t have them, we think it’s one of the many important things that can bring happiness in our life. But once we own them, slowly over time, it no more excites us. Today we will talk about 7 habits that we need to make part of day to day life that will bring everlasting happiness in our life.
- Empathy – Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. I was travelling in a crowded metro train few days back when I saw a young boy carrying bag on his back. It was causing inconvenience to lot of co passengers. So an elderly gentleman requested “Young man, please put down your bag so that passengers can stand comfortably”. The young boy replied arrogantly “But uncle, I am more comfortable putting bag on my back”.
It is common to see people hang bags on their backs in metro train and making life hell for other passengers but the blatant reply of the young boy emphasizing that he least bothers that his act is causing problems to others was a real shock for me.
- Unconditional love - Do parents stop loving and caring for their children when their children move on in their life. The answer is “No” because their love is unconditional. They don’t expect anything in return for their love. If we love somebody from the bottom of our heart, we accept him with all his shortcomings. Unconditional love helps in building strong relationships which brings happiness in life.
- Learn to say sorry for your mistakes - We all make mistakes in life at some point or the other. And other people have to suffer due to our mistakes. Usually people choose to react in either of the 2 ways to their mistakes. There are people who say sorry but don’t mean it. And there are those people who feel sorry but their ego don’t allow them to say sorry. Result is they suffer pain. By saying sorry you demonstrate your respect for the other person and that you understand that your action has hurt other person’s feelings. Sincerely feeling sorry and saying sorry will make you feel better.
- Contentment - We human beings don’t realize the importance of things we get easily in life. And keep worrying about things we don’t have as if they were the only things that would have made us happy. As one author rightly said i cribbed for not having shoes only til the time i saw a man without legs on the other side of road. We always crib about things that others have and which are missing in our life. However we are never thankful to god for things which we have and is missing in other’s life.
- Joy of giving - Understand the joy and happiness of giving and helping others without expecting anything in return. We see big business leaders like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Azim Premji all donating their hard earned money for the welfare of needy people. Let’s do it in our own small way. As Lord Buddha said “If you knew what i know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way”.
- Living in the present moment - Live in the present as if there was no past and there is going to be no future. Forget the pain of the past and fear of the future. Its a known fact that 99% of the times things you fear about in life never happen. And the bad things that do happen in your life, you hardly have a clue about that prior to the event. So why to fear for things which are beyond your control. This is the key to happiness.
- Enjoy the beauty of Nature - Happiness comes by going as close to nature as possible and you can enjoy nature’s beauty without incurring any cost. The happiness you get by watching beautiful flowers, greenery of jungle , chirping birds, beauty of rising sun and sun set, calmness on the banks of river cannot be explained in writing, it needs to be experienced.
Real Happiness lies in nurturing relationships in life. Now that you know the seven habits to bring happiness in life, the next question is how to make these habits a part of your personality.
The answer is through “Meditation”. Meditation helps mind and body to relax and increases concentration. We should meditate daily for 15 minutes and focus on one of the above habits daily. This way we will concentrate on all 7 habits once in a week. During these 15 minutes of meditation, we should think of situations of last 1 week which required application of one of above habits, analyze how we actually handled the situation and was there a better way to handle that situation.
Life will keep on posing challenges to us but by improvising on how we respond to that situation will bring happiness in our life.
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