5 Timeless Secrets to Happiness!

In my entire life I can honestly say that I have only met a handful of people who I consider to be genuinely happy. These people on the outside seem astonishingly ordinary, but once you get to know them intimately you really begin to feel that these people have found the secret to happiness.

Now for me personally whenever I see an area where I can improve I like to jump to it. So in this case I had to find out what was the root to these peoples happiness.

Fortunately I did.

And that’s what I hope to share with you through this article. Through thorough research and bit of experimentation I have boiled it down to 5 secrets which happiness derives from

5 Secrets to Happiness:

1. Have a Meaning or Purpose

Research shows that happy people live for a purpose and have meaning to their lives ‰- they want to reach a certain goal- while unhappy people seem lost and muddled. They also have a passion for what they do and enjoy it.

As Aristotle said:

Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

So as long as a person is reaching for the next objective he or she will be happy. But if the person isn’t and is at a stationary phase he or she will be unhappy.

2. Build and Cherish Relationships

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. -Buddha

Happiness when shared among people only becomes stronger.

This is why happy people maintain a strong network of friends and relatives. This network allows their happiness to resonate and grow infinitely. While for unhappy people their isolation represses their happiness and allows it to only grow to a certain point.

3. Control Your Thoughts

Happy people have a strong control over their thoughts and mind. They are able to look at bright side, and filter out negative thoughts.  This gives them a considerable edge over unhappy people who think negative and look at the glass half empty.

As Abraham Lincoln said:

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

4. Accept What You Have

Happy people are content with what they have and only want for what they know they can get. This sense of reality in controlled doses allows these people to feel satisfied and fulfilled. While in reverse unhappy people never seem to have what they want, and they live in a constant torment of wants and needs.

As Democritus

Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.

5. Be Thankful

Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.

The happiest people who I have ever met have all also been the most thankful. By being grateful one evokes a certain feeling of contentment and calm. This feeling eventually evolves into true, genuine happiness.