“Happiness is not a destination. Happiness is a direction.” - Author C. Brooks
We all want to be happy, but how?
Author C. Brooks is a Harvard professor who teaches people how to live a better, happier life.
Brooks says the four keys to happiness are: Family, friends, work, and faith (a sense of something larger than yourself).
These make up your happiness 401k. Every day, invest in these four things, and you can be happier.
Brooks then says happiness is made up of enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning, and it comes after you implement these three steps:
1 - Understand It: Know what happiness is and what makes you happy.
2 - Practice It: Do the things that make you happy.
3 - Share It: Share heinous and what you know about it to make the world a better place.
Brooks says one of the most common misconceptions of happiness is that we think it's a destination and that we can have pure happiness, but that shouldn’t be the goal because for us to have pure happiness, you will need to eliminate the parts of your life that are literally keeping you alive. You need anger, sadness, disgust, grief, and other feelings and emotions to stay alive and deal with the world. These emotions are information that tells you whether something is an opportunity or a threat.
Instead of pursuing happiness by trying to eliminate all negative emotions, learn how to better manage them and how to find and appreciate what makes you happy.
The goal shouldn’t be to seek pure happiness, but to be happier through the good times and the bad, the ups and the downs.
Question of the Day: What makes you feel happy, and how can you do it more?
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