HAPPINESS

Happiness is a state of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, or in love, or in good marriages and relationships, they feel happy. People feel happiness for different reasons but despite all the happiness, there comes a point in life where we feel low, discouraged and hopeless and the happiness slowly starts fading away. This is due to a lot of factors that act as a barrier to our happiness. Most of these factors are internal because happiness comes from within us, it is your choice to be happy and so we'll look at some of the things that we do that prevent us from being happy and how to go about it. 

Here are some of the things that we do that hinder us from being happy ;

*FORGETTING YOUR WORTH.  

Your worth is not dependent on your external environment and other external factors like your physical appearance, your level of education, your relationship status, your financial status, your career, your friends, your family or your titles. These are just parts you play in your life and you should not place your self worth on them. 

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles, and the wearing  of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in Gods sight. " 1 Peter 3;3-4

Therefore, your worth should be derived from God alone. 

*WORRYING ABOUT THE FUTURE.  

When you worry about all the things that might go wrong in your life in the future like;

What if I don't get school fees before the end of the semester? 

What if I get kicked out of my house because of rent? 

What if I don't graduate? 

What if I can't get a job and fend for my family? 

All these questions and others that we ask ourselves only tells us that we worry so much about our future. Worrying about tomorrow only creates tension, stress and discouragement in your present moment. It denies you happiness in your present. 

"So do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand. " Isaiah 41;10

*LACK OF GRATITUDE.  

We tend to be so focused on what we don't have, that we always forget to notice what we already have. Pause and appreciate all of the love, beauty, health, blessings and abundance in your life and you may be surprised to realize just how rich you really are. 

*IGNORING YOUR HEART AND INTUITION.  

Majority of us live a life others expect us to live and not the one  that's true to ourselves. Have the courage to follow your hearts desires and trust your intuition . 

*LETTING YOUR EGO CONTROL YOU. 

Your ego is your social mask and the image you have of yourself. Its insecure and easily wounded by life's experiences and other people's opinions. Learn to tap into your inner self, your soul, your eternal essence, who you really are underneath all the labels and titles you have. Unlike your ego, your soul  is unconditionally loving, strong willed, wise, enduring, brave and courageous. 

*HOLDING ON TO PAST ANGER AND RESENTMENT.  

When you hold on to past grievances, pain, mistakes and betrayals and refuse to forgive, then you are only holding yourself as a slave to your past and denying yourself the happiness that you truly deserve. 

*PRIOTIZING THINGS THAT ARE NOT IMPORTANT. 

We spend so much of our time and energy doing things that don't help us grow, things that don't advance our dreams and goals in life or give us a sense of fulfillment. Things like scrolling through Social media all the time, gossiping, playing around with people's feelings and generally doing nothing at all. We should save our time, energy and efforts for things that bring us happiness and progress our lives. 

*OVERTHINKING. 

We read meanings in situations that are not really there. We assume that people don't love us, or are unhappy around us, when they are just tired and need rest. We assume we are being judged, criticized, misunderstood, or excluded  when its really not the case. Overthinking prevents us from being happy when around others. 

*NEGATIVITY.  

Your world is a reflection of your dominant thought and feelings. So, when you constantly focus on the dull side of life, your problems, your struggles and worries, you will end up in the same circumstances over and over again.  But if you focus on the brighter side of life then you end up happy. 

Our lives move quickly and at times when struggles and problems pile up, its easy to loose sight of the things that bring us happiness and so here are a few ways of enhancing happiness in your life:

*PRACTICE GRATITUDE 

Make a list of everything you are grateful for. 

*CONCENTRATE ON THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL. 

Focus your time and energy on the things you can control and change. 

*GO EASY ON YOUR SELF

Self criticism can be useful in helping us find our weaknesses and work on them but too much self criticism destroys your self esteem and makes you more miserable. The best way to think of self criticism is to view it as a tool for improvement but not a chance to point out things you hate about yourself. 

*MAKE DIFFICULT DECISIONS RATHER THAN PUTTING THEM OFF. 

sometimes you are stuck in a wrong relationship or have bad friends, or stuck in a wrong job but you choose to stay because you are scared of the outcome results of you quiting. You have to make that hard decision to quit in order to be happy. 

*SMILE MORE

Always wear a smile. Its a reminder that you are stronger than your problems. Its a sign of hope for a brighter day ahead. 

*TAKE A BREAK

Take a break from everything and evaluate yourself, your progress, identify where you need to put more effort and congratulate yourself for how far u have come. 

*PRAY

This is the most important thing out of all, pray and trust God for your happiness. 

I hope this will be helpful for all of us as we learn to find happiness within ourselves. Feel free to comment and share it with your friends. Thanks guys.