Happiness Happens Right Now

November 2nd, 2008         Email This Post Email This Post       Print This Post Print This Post

I expect that you want to be happier. Most of us are waiting to win the lottery, finish the workweek, the current project, or for this bad situation to end, and then we will be happy. That’s sad, because you can only be happy RIGHT NOW. The past is a memory and the future is just a figment of your imagination. Life happens only in the present moment. Don’t fool yourself and say that you will be happy in the future - there is no future! Why does something need to happen BEFORE you can be happy? Choose to be happy NOW.

Great, so you are choosing to be happy now. But how? Well, I could tell you to access a positive state - recall a time that you were very happy, and fully experience that moment. Or many other techniques perfected in the NLP toolkit. And it would work. You would be happy.

But that’s cheap. It’s temporary and only skin deep.

Instead, let’s look at the present moment and see what we can truly be happy about. Thinking appreciatively or gratefully for what you have is true happiness - it’s Rabbi Pliskin’s first “Happiness Principle” in his great book, Conversations With Yourself. 

When you get something new, or someone gives you something unexpected, it isn’t that hard to be grateful - for a few moments. If getting a new gizmo or clothes would make you happy, you can also be happy with the gizmo or clothes that you have now! You can keep appreciating something long after you get it. In the morning brachos, we bless Hashem for being able to walk. That is something that is so expected, it falls off our radar screen and we don’t appreciate it at all. From being able to walk and talk, to having a home, many things become so normal to us that we don’t appreciate them anymore. It is time to sensitize yourself to the myriad of things to be grateful for.

Take a moment and STOP. What can you appreciate? Being able to walk and talk? Having clothes and a place to sleep? An amazing spouse? Adorable children? Great friends? A nice house? A rewarding job? Warm, comfortable, clothes? Food that you like? Some cool electronics? The computer or printer that is enabling you to read this article?

Pirke Avos says: “Who is a rich person? The person that rejoices with his lot.” When you can rejoice with what you have, you will truly be rich. If you can appreciate what you have, you will escape the trap of constantly waiting for something to make you (temporarily) happy.

  • When you say brachos before or after food, don’t just mumble the words. Say them clearly. Think about them. Appreciate the food that you are about to eat or just had!
  • After you visit the bathroom, realize that the body is amazingly complicated, and thank Hashem that it’s in good working order!
  • When paying your bills, think about all the great benefit that you have received.

Don’t plan to do this tomorrow. Tomorrow is just a figment of your imagination. Do it right now. Really stop and look around. It may take (at least) a few moments to really recognize the great things in your life. 

What are you grateful for?

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Posted in Awareness, Principles, core, happiness | Rate post on JBlog!