Something About Happiness - Part 1 By CD Mohatta

Happiness is one of the most commonly used words. We all say - the children look so happy. I am very happy today. You don't look happy. Any reason? How to make a happy world? How to avoid sad feelings and feel happy? Which pill can help us? The discussion about happiness is endless. Does science give a common definition of happiness? General answers are available that say that happiness is a state when one feels good, elated, contented, good etc. Is happiness a life long gift or an emotion experienced for a short time.

If I win a lottery, I become happy. As I spend all the money, I become unhappy again. When you call me a good person, I feel happy and when you curse me, I feel very unhappy. If I look at the dead body of my old friend, I feel unhappy and when I look at laughing faces of children I feel happy. We have no control. Outside forces and events control our emotions. We are all toys. That has no free will. This is difficult to believe but true.

Let us find out what is not happiness. Low self esteem, feelings of despondency, sadness, guilt, helplessness, frustration, low interest, uncertainty, and all such negative emotions are not happy emotions. They rather make us unhappy. Now let us talk of what is happiness? Feeling good, cheerful outlook, positive thoughts, winning attitudes, satisfied living, enjoyment, and all such emotions that make us feel good are happy feelings

Is happiness same for all of us? If I give a certain amount to few people, some may become very happy and some may become angry and some will not care either way. Am I making myself clear? So happiness is not something that we feel in equal measure. I may be very happy when I watch the star lit night, but you may enjoy only the bright sunshine. So each one of us has his/her own happiness.

Some of us are happy when we get a large amount of money, some when they can do lot of creative work, some when they can make others feel good and so on. All of us have our unique set of values and desires. We ourselves many times do not know about them. It become difficult therefore to know how to keep others happy and this ignorance causes most of inter personal problems. But these differences in our emotional reactions make us human beings; otherwise we are no different than animals.

Surprisingly, many of us wish to be happy and feel like we don't know what it feels like. We may have been struggling with depression for a long time. We think we will be happy when we find perfect love, or don't have to worry about money, or don't have problems with our family, or if we can only be a success.

These things can help happiness but they aren't really what makes happiness. You could have a great love, money, success, and a loving family and still be depressed. Happiness happens in the 'in between' spaces. It happens in moments when we relax and appreciate the little things. When we are able to find happiness within ourselves and the little moments of the day, it actually makes it much easier to find love, have better relationships, be more successful in our career, and many other things. Please read further in part two of this article series.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=423081&ca=Self

Learn to Let Go - Part 2 By CD Mohatta

As we grow up, it becomes necessary to learn to let go of many things that we have taken on during our life. In Learn To Let Go - Part One we explored the main things that happen to us as we grow up and experience life. We lose family members who move or die; we start to collect memories and memorabilia; we begin to suffer mental, physical, and emotional illnesses; we have addictions and depression and learn about toxic, negative people; we see and experience abuse and sometimes our egos get in our way. To live life again, we need to re-evaluate what is really important to us and begin to get rid of the unimportant things.

LOVED ONES

This leads us to letting go of loved ones, not by death but by distance. If a child moves out of the family house to go to school, get married or start their own life, it is an unmistakable pain that is hard to get rid of. If a parent moves out of state after retirement, we feel abandoned and question why they had to go. Never thinking that it might be good for them, or cheaper or even better climate, we add that to out baggage. If a grandchild, a child of our dead son or daughter moves out of our home and into their own home, we again feel abandoned. We need to let go of loved ones who have a life of their on and are not making changes to hurt us but to better their own lives.

PREJUDICE

There are many types of prejudice in this world and each one is a different size and color baggage, but certainly, each one hinders your success. There are racial, sexual and spiritual prejudices. They are ideas that you struggle with and they take your concentration and your energy, so it is important to learn to let go of those prejudices.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Things in our past can trigger emotions that make another piece of baggage. Past disappointments trigger emotions of failure. They make us feel as though we fell short of depending on our self. By holding onto disappointments, we can hurt our self-esteem and lower our capacity to improve ourselves. It is also very important to let go of disappointments.

MATERIAL POSSESSIONS

The biggest baggage many people have are old unused objects. They can be anything from knick-knacks and broken things to old clothes and outgrown things. When you have so many things to move to just dust, it is probably time to let go of some of the 'junk'. Certainly any old broken objects, which you planned on fixing some day, need to trashed or donated for others to fix. Old, unused clothes that have not been worn in one year, needs to discarded. In an article titled 'How to De-Clutter', you can see many ideas on getting rid of material possessions.

Look at a rich man. Most of them keep accumulating. They have many houses and many cars. What do they do with them? Only they know why they need so much. Rare amongst the rich give away all they possess to needy. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are recent examples. Other wealthy persons keep accumulating till the end of their life but have no happiness of mind. Is such accumulation of any use? We earn money and buy things to get peace. The end is not money but peace and comfort.

We have all faced periods in our life where we need to learn to let go. In Learn To Let Go - Part Three, we will continue our exploration of the things that we need to learn are not important. We can begin learning to let go.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=423078&ca=Self