How to be happy ... Highway to happiness!

We all talk about wanting to live a happy life, achieve happiness, or spend our time looking for that feeling, but do we really know what the term happiness means?

Destination: happiness

First of all, it is important to know that the idea of happiness is associated with an emotional state of fullness, serenity and harmony accompanied by joy and peace. It implies well-being, satisfaction, pleasure, self-sufficiency and fulfillment. This feeling is linked to absence of negative emotions such as suffering, shame, despair, helplessness, grief, crying, sadness, rejection, depression, or fear.

Know to think

To answer the question How can i be happy We must first go back in time, to see where the concept of happiness originates.

Happiness comes from the Latin "felix"," Happy "which means fertile, fertile.

Already from Greek antiquity this concept was treated in philosophy, as we can see in Seneca, Plato, Aristotle and Epicurus.

Wisdom and knowledge are the only means that will guide us towards happiness. - Socrates

Plato spoke of happiness through the rejection of hedonism (pleasure), that is, it was based on the ability that all beings have to contemplate the essence of the things that surround us, this is what he meant with the ideas of our reason. For this philosopher, the world of ideas consists of overcoming the illusion of our senses. He spoke of the three souls of the human being: the concupiscible soul, the irascible soul and the rational soul, which had to be in perfect harmony to achieve this idea of good.

For Aristotle the path to happiness was to through virtue and a little luck. It is the highest good and the highest aspiration of the human being. It was based on a lifestyle of balance and harmony centered on the constant exercise of reason.

Epicurus conceives of being happy through hedonism, since he focused on the absence of pain and the search for the absolute and lasting pleasure emphasizing the absence of frustration of the human being (Ataraxia). In relation to Epicurus we meet the Stoics who speak of the attainment of ataraxia through the independence of material goods and putting destiny at the center.

Types of happiness

Happiness is a very subjective term which is difficult to explain with an exact definition, since it has an independent meaning for each one.

By this inaccurate definition, can we speak of different happiness?

Hedonist Happiness

This type is based on enjoyment and pleasure. Leisure and enjoyment of life are the pillars of happiness. Suffering is imperiously avoided, non-rationalization of pleasant emotions, search for joy, satisfaction, pride and fun. This type of happiness was what the Romans sought with their great banquets and bacchanalia.

Spiritual happiness

Spiritual happiness is based on the mystical, inner peace, silence. Sensations that the mind cannot explain, therefore science takes it ahead. It speaks of wisdom, altruism, self-knowledge, exceeds basic needs and goes beyond the known. Reject the material, learn from lived experiences and seek personal coherence, calm and control the emotions looking for the meaning and feeding the soul.

Some of the religions such as Buddhism or Taoism have focused on this type of happiness and others have taken it as a base although giving a different interpretation to its essence. An example that characterizes this spirituality are the abstract elements that they use such as God, Soul, Fullness, etc. Plato was the first to speak of this pattern, of this peculiar method of getting happier through the "psyche."

Happiness of overcoming

This consists of overcoming obstacles, achieving achievements, reaching goals or objectives. The emotions that are mainly experienced are glory, pride, enjoy the effort. This happiness was what conquerors, warriors in battle, kings used to seek. Obtaining these ideas through effort and suffering.

Keys to being happy

There is no instruction manual that details step by step how we should be happy, but we can advise what are some of the keys to approach this goal. Once the types of happiness have been analyzed, we can deduce that the secret to being happier is in THE BALANCE.

The harmony between body-mind-environment. When we achieve balance in our mental plane (thoughts), sentimental (emotions) and in our context (work, social relationships) we can achieve what in Buddhism is known as Nirvana or happiness.

How can I be happier through this state of consonance and symmetry?

1. Be in silence for a few minutes analyzing what happens inside us, the reason for a discomfort and why we feel bad.
2. Detect like a policeman those negative thoughts that cause us negative feelings.
3. Accept being wrong. It is impossible to be laughing and happy every day at all hours because as animals that we are we have both positive and negative feelings, this does not mean that we are neither better nor worse.
4. Set short-term goals and remember to be realistic.
5. Make a list of things that you like and make you feel good for when you feel bad reading them.
6. Mens healthy in healthy body. Remember both exercise the mind and the bodyso it can be a great idea to get some exercise every day.
7. Don't confuse wealth with success. It is about being happy from the ground up, doing something that you like but that at the same time makes you better. For example, if you want to learn to understand people's behavior and minds, one option is to study psychology; on the other hand, if one of your greatest passions is sports, then you could choose to look for some Physical Trainer Fitness Courses.
8. In negative situations, remember to neutralize everything that happens and bring the positive out of something negative.
9. You are the only one responsible for your happiness, others are only actors who go through the movie of your life.
10. Eat balanced and healthy allowing yourself a whim.
11. Do something good for someone every day.