It seems within us all there is a desire to be happy. The feeling of happiness is very agreeable, natural and healthy. When we are happy and feeling good we are in a state that is much more preferable to being irritated or gloomy. So it would make sense to try and feel more of these ‘positive’ feelings in our life and less ‘negative’ feelings. To do this it seems we need to put some effort in. In my opinion we probably can’t spend our effort more wisely.
Being happy is more difficult then it might at first appear. It seems most people are less happy then they should be, or at least could be. The most important step, it is assumed here, in being successful at maximizing your happiness is perhaps so simple, so obvious, that countless people have overlooked it. This single, crucial step is to make happiness a goal in your life.
“Well that’s a bit obvious!” you may be thinking, but hopefully you will at least agree. To start with, life can be very distracting, we go through several different frames of mind every day. If we are not careful we can go for weeks, months and even years forgetting about trying to be happy. We therefore need to make a conscious decision to stive towards happiness, so that when difficult times arise we will be prepared, and with each trial that we encounter we might learn how to better face it in the future.
It is the authors belief that the strength you need to cope with life is inside you. To put it into a sentence is simple. It is simply a matter of training your mind. To put it into practice is more difficult. Perhaps the biggest trial is that negative emotions take away our strength and ability to become happy, when we need them most. To best help us over come such situations it is a good idea to prepare beforehand.
If we have this goal (of happiness) in our minds, then through time we will naturally pick up lessons on how to achieve it, some of which we will have not noticed otherwise. We may, for example, pick up more methods on how to avoid becoming upset, or how to feel better when we do get upset. This takes a certain amount of intelligence and logical reasoning but no more than any person dedicated to their personal happiness can achieve.
The amount of practical advice available on how to be happy is vast and reflects the complex nature of our different thoughts and feelings. We uphold that being honest with yourself will allow you to make the most complete judgements on the advice you hear and the advice you give (both to yourself and others).
To reiterate, success in the search for happiness depends on you making it a conscious goal in your life.