“Most of us are operating on mistaken ideas about what gives us happiness — and these errors are sometimes costly. Think about how you normally spend your days — shopping, TV watching, drinking alcohol, eating junk food, computer games — and then think about whether that’s making you happy. Now think about the cost to your health and long-term happiness.
Real happiness comes from what’s happening inwardly.
- Being delighted by movement, music, and connecting with others
- Caring for yourself or others
- Having fun, playing, smiling
- Being fully in the present moment
- Being grateful, being appreciative
- Loving
- Feeling connected to others, yourself, or the world around you
- Expressing your full self
Again, this isn’t a complete list. The idea is to show you the inward activities that can happen with any outward activity, that lead to greater happiness.
There are lots of other inward activities that don’t often lead to greater happiness: judgment, complaining, needing more and more, hating, seeing the faults, hiding yourself, or shutting yourself off from the world. Not that these are bad things — they’re human, and we all do them, and they’re a part of the beautiful experience of living. But you might notice that when you’re doing them, they don’t fulfill you as much as other inward activities.
From that, you might consciously practice the inward activities that lead to greater fulfillment, meaning love. How would you like to practice?”
https://zenhabits.net, Leo Babauta
