You might have heard the old adage – “Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.”
Easy to understand. Difficult to remember. And even more difficult to make a part of your life.
But, there are a few people who have chosen not to take life seriously and these people are experiencing serious happiness. You may be one of them.
Here are 7 reasons why you may be happier than the rest of the crowd
1. You know that happiness is YOUR choice
You are not looking for happiness from external sources.
You enjoy material things. You may love parties, movies and music as well. But, you aren’t attached to them. You know that the source of true happiness is deep within you, and you make everyone around you feel good, too.
2. You fall often, but get back on your feet fast
Just like the rest of the world, you fall often. Where you stand apart is what you do after you fall. Most people stay there playing the victim, finding people to blame and manufacturing excuses so that they can postpone any meaningful action. You, though, take very little time to get back on your feet and start running again.
You know that there is nothing you can do about the past. The more time you spend in the past is time you lose being in the present.
3. You attract like-minded people
Birds of a feather flock together. You attract people who have the same approach of not taking life seriously. Since the conversations in your tribe are mostly uplifting, they help you enjoy life a lot more.
In the same vein, if you stick to your approach, you will notice that people who don’t share that approach start walking out of your life – reducing the noise element.
4. You utilize selective memory to your advantage
Everyone has selective memory; in other words, nobody remembers everything that has happened.
But you use selective memory to your advantage. You choose to remember the bright things in the past and try your best to ignore things that are not worth remembering.
Note: This is not to say that you ignore your failures and mistakes. You do notice and learn from them. You simply choose to not to play the broken record again and again.
5. You don’t take things personally
Things happen. Mistakes are made. You also get the short end of the stick. That’s part of life.
But you are careful not to take things personally and get your ego involved, and this makes all the difference.
6. You firmly believe that most people have good intentions at heart
There are two ways to treat people:
a) Test them until they are proven to have good intentions.
b) Believe that people have good intentions until they are proven wrong.
You choose to go with the latter option, and find life is better that way.
There is a clear downside to this approach – you might get taken advantage of in the short-term. There is always a small subset of people who are looking for shortcuts.
Howevever, the upside is huge. When good people feel trusted, they go out of their way to reciprocate.
7. You know that it’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters
Most people let what happens to them control their feelings and emotions. But you are different.
You know that how you react to those events matters more than anything else. You don’t have full control of what happens to you; but, you have full control on how you react to them.
You are a gift to the world. Not only are you joyful – you bring joy to those around you!
Featured photo credit: Farrukh via flickr.com
