What is Happiness?

We often think it is having a million dollars, meeting Mr. or Mrs Right, having a big new home, or something like winning the lottery. We often think when I have.. I will be happy. But we can have serious happiness everyday.

Giving a needy person a $1.  Nodding or smiling at people you don’t know, holding open doors, giving people the right of way and driving so as not to endanger others. Living within our means and not buying something you want but can’t afford. Not owing people money. Staying in touch with people that are important to you. Maintaining your health, weight, and some physical conditioning.  Making it a daily practice to plan things that make your day.

Treating others well is at the top of the lists. After a while, the respect for yourself and others starts to find its way back. People you know respect and treat you well. People appreciate you and tell you they love you. That alone can make you happy. You feel good about yourself and regard yourself as a good citizen and human. Feel your swelling pride.

Make progress in a lot of things. Do things you enjoy like exercise, going to the beach, going out to dinner, having a great dessert, reading a book, going to a game or movie. These things are affordable and often more important than money.

Money does a lot of things for us, but in the long run it doesn’t really give us self respect nor make us good people. In fact, we see everyday that people with money and fame are quite self destructive.  So that tells us that stability starts with things within our power and close to home. Self respect and respect for ourselves as humans is built on smaller practices that don’t get written up in newspapers.

Consider how we judge politicians. One who cheats in any fashion loses public trust and is banished. Regardless of your party, you have to appreciate how the Obamas have worked all their lives for solid values of study, achievement, community service and family.

Self respect for ourselves and others gets respect and frequently success in things that are important to us. People trust us and are willing to give us what we want; often its money for our services. There is something about someone that is trustworthy that is sensed much more instinctively than words can express.  Nothing like a con telling you to trust them.

Being trustworthy and truly respecting others might make the mate of your dreams have faith. People recognize good qualities. Being unselfish comes back a thousand times. It is often said that if you want to be rich give away as much as you can. It’s a matter of faith in the universe. Having faith means believing that good things happen and anyone can make good things happen for themselves. That builds confidence. Confidence usually comes from people who trust themselves, others, and how the universe works.

Happiness can be found in things much smaller than a big payoff.