Your Happiness IQ

We all know that happiness is a state of mind but we seem to keep forgetting this. Regardless of our circumstances, we can work to become happy just as sure as we can change our state of mind. Here are some pointers.

A common belief is that happiness is a place we need to get to and that the acquisition of certain things will take us there, be it a new job, more money, a vacation in paradise. Millions of people from all walks of life through history have told us that this is not true, so sure there must be some truth to it? The smart thing to do is find those triggers that will make us happy regardless of our current circumstances and most often these are things that we have never tried, be it a yoga or exercise class, painting, photography, volunteer work or a thousand other things like them. If we have never tried these things, with a little bit of work and determination we may find one of them unlocking our real selves and leading us to a much wider and more fulfilling sense of being filled with wonder, curiosity and creativity we never know we had.

Many of us unfortunately want something and we go through endless visualizations of ourselves in possession of those things. Be it a flashy car or a new house, no sooner than we get those things, they lose whatever attraction they had that hooked us so hard in the first place. This is a destructive cycle that, taken to its logical conclusion, means we will never, ever be happy. The truth is that we were rightfully excited and aroused by those things to begin with and we simply need to force ourselves to focus on those things again. They attract us for good reason and if we try hard, we will reignite our passion for that sleek look in the car or the sexy growl of its engine which speaks of a different standard of workmanship. Why not find out more about the people who designed and made it? What were they thinking and how do they feel about it now? Could you improve on anything? And how about the golf course view that drew us to the house-wouldn't it be interesting and kind of fun to take a photo of that view every week for a year, make a calendar out of those photos and compare how every week looks every following year, making notes as we go for our children and grandchildren to marvel over and treasure decades after we are gone? Would not you love to find something like that your great grandmother wrote?

We have everything right now and I'm sure you can think of a hundred other things to do to light the fire.