Life is short, cherish it. Happiness is a personal choice, all of us should adopt a positive mindset and lead life to its fullest.
Learning adds meaning to life. Let us embrace life-long learning to enhance the value of our lives!
In this article, she had specifically mentioned that Singapore had the least number of happy people and that Singaporeans were the unhappiest employees in Asia. Reference was also made to the "100 Happy Days Challenge" at website http://100happydays.com/ with the objective of getting people to find the things in life that made them happy.
The challenge aims for the user to better appreciate the little things in life and start actively noticing things that make them happy, instead of unhappy. The creators of the website feel that the increased speed of life has impacted people today in a way that “there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in”. They add: “The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.”
According to the website creators, “71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason. These people simply did not have time to be happy. Do you?”
Well, as far as I am concerned, to be happy or unhappy is a personal choice. If you choose to be happy, you will find happiness somehow. Do you agree?
Happiness is an abstract entity. It cannot be seen, heard, smelt or touched, it however can only be felt by the heart and appreciate by the mind. Over the years, many people have attempted to measure this complex entity known as happiness and different people have their own set of measuring criteria.
To me, happiness is a perceived item. In other words, whether you are happy or not is all dependent on your own perception. If you think or perceive that you have achieved the state of happiness, you probably have if you manage to feel happy at heart and your mind can put you in a state of tranquillity, rising your spirits to match the 'top of the world'!
Can happiness be measured in terms of the physical, mental, spiritual, intellectual or economical state of an individual? Is it transferrable or spreadable from one person to another? If achieved, what then is the objective or advantages of attaining the happiness state? Should happiness be made the goal of our life or even the basis of staying alive?
If we pose the above questions to ten persons, we probably will get ten different answers since it all depends on the perceptions of individuals. Then, is it fair for us to pass our judgements on other people's opinion or perception of happiness? I personally think not.
I know of some people who use their economic state or their ability to make money to measure happiness. The more money they make, the happier they are. However, their riches may not include any spiritual or mental factors other than material pursuits just like the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" portrays. Hence, these people have perceived the ability to earn big bucks and enjoy life comfortably as happiness.
For others, the ability to give more to the community and society at large can bring happiness to them in addition to their own well-being. These people probably do not earn a lot of money but they have a lot of love to share with others. The sharing and the appreciation of others bring happiness to them.
In short, there is no one measuring standard for happiness. Happiness is in the hearts and minds of each and every individual and it is up to him or her to pursue and achieve it.
To me, happiness is the state at which the mind and body needs are both met and satisfied up to the comfort level felt by the heart. In other words, the body parts are working blissfully, the mind is churning out beautiful scenarios of life, the eyes see kind acts of mankind playing all the time, the ears hear calm and soothing 'music' of life and the heart is always beaming with love. Such is an ideal state of happiness I wish to pursue but have yet to achieve!
For a person who is easily contented with what he/she has like the writer's grandmother, happiness can be attained “As long as there is enough food to eat and a roof over my head! I don’t need a lot of money to be happy, how much more can I eat?” Indeed, in the process of building a good life for ourselves in modern times, one's pursuit of wealth has given us a never-ending list of 'wants' which one may take a life-time to achieve (if one ever complete the list in one's lifetime).
The writer is right to point out that "If you want to be happy -- you have to know what can make you happy. Many of us run around in circles looking for something but not knowing what it is." As such, it is of paramount importance for one to identify his/her purpose in life and what he/she wants to achieve out of life. One can only proceed to define happiness in his own context after he had defined his own life objectives and then proceed to work towards it, building his own destiny.
To me, Perception is a peculiar word as one incident can have thousands of different perceptions by different people and there are no absolute right or wrong connotations to each one of them. Perhaps, that is also the 'beauty' of perception as it allows individuals to define their own happiness and meanings in life.
Expectations on the other hand, can be affected by many environmental and societal factors around us. Despite having enough to eat everyday, one can easily raise his/her expectations on the food one consume as one moves up the social ladder and failing to achieve the level purported by society at large would have a direct impact on the level of happiness one can attain in this process. Similarly, the living conditions, the type of housing we currently and that which we aspire to have and the many other luxurious pursuits can all bring our expectations higher and higher with no recourse to one's ability to achieve them. When one reaches that stage, unhappiness will set in and other conditions like depression, feeling of rejection will all step forward to befriend you.
In conclusion, I felt that for any one of us to "capture" our own happiness quotient, we must keep a close check on our perceptions and expectations in every stage of our life and make appropriate and realistic adjustments to them. Only then can we maintain our mind and body in the state of 'happiness' we desire.
Have you ever heard from human resource gurus at inspiring motivational seminars that the top A to acquire in life is ATTITUDE. Indeed, I share the same view too! I always believe that by adopting the correct, positive attitude in whatever we do, we would probably have won half the battle.
Life is full of changes. Everything around us changes at one time or another due to many factors. The most encouraging factor that I choose to identify is society's progress or improvement brought about by new developments, new technological advancements and people's perception of success and happiness.
Many a time, when we come across a 'new task' which we have not attempted previously, it is natural to feel the 'anxiety' and 'uncertainty' as we take it up to replace the 'old, seasoned duty' that we have been doing all these years without bating an eyelid. The attitude adopted by the individual in such cases is often the deciding factor of success and failure. The willingness to embrace new things and eagerness to acquire new skills will always put a person in good stead for future challenges.
Conversely, someone who prefer to 'stick' to what he adored as the "óld, established" way of doing things and choose to resist changes and 'refused' to learn new things will soon find himself being left out by modern progression and living in his own good past of yesteryears.
Hence, adopting the correct attitude towards life and learning is of paramount importance as this can make the difference between a happy and unhappy or successful or unsuccessful life.
A good attitude towards people and our living environment can also affect the quality of our life. If we can embrace life with an open mind and an open heart and not dwell on nitty gritty issues with people around us by sharing what we have with others, the world will be made a better place to live in too.
I am a firm believer that no one owes you a living, neither is anyone obliged to extend a helping hand to another human being in distress. The love and attitude is all in the mind and heart of the beholder. If one believes that the world is a huge community that comes into being because of the sharing and caring offered by a group of kind souls, one will naturally adopt this same attitude in his/her approach to life. If one enjoys the sharing experience and the returned of good Samaritans, their belief and attitude towards sharing will also be further enhanced.
Although not everyone encounters the same life experiences as others, someone who adopts a good attitude to life is more likely to be thankful for all the 'good things' he enjoys and less likely to 'complain' about the less fortunate events in his life but accept them as stepping stones in their learning journey to better appreciate life as an exciting expedition in which there are countless hidden treasures, waiting to be explored.
The human race is a social being. We all live in a community, inter-dependent on one another through caring and sharing to form a society. As such, all of us have to socialise with others at one time or another via human interactions. In fact, many of our day-to-day activities involve interactions with others and believe me, inter-personal interaction is also a skill that is invaluable to us.
Human interactions can come in many forms. It can be plain verbal which includes the volume and tone of your voice, gesturing with your body language or in writing with the appropriate choice of words. Many people may not realise that the way they interact with others can cause discomfort or unhappiness to the other party if they are not mindful of the possible implications of their messages to the other party. One example is to say 'Thank you' or 'Sorry' to others without maintaining eye contact or in a very 'cool and unfeeling tone'.
As we go along our daily lives within our community, a little gesture like a warm smile and an enthusiastic 'Hello' to our neighbours whenever we see them at the lift lobby can go a long way. It can brighten up the day and spread happiness to the other party.
When we see people in the neighbourhood, be it the cleaner downstairs, the postman across the street or the sales assistant at the grocery store, we can spread some warm and happiness to them by greeting them and spreading some cheerfulness to them.
This reminds me of a very warm experience I had when I visited the bank two weeks to exchange new notes for the Lunar New Year. I was there at 9.15am knowing that the banking hours start at 9.00am. However, a queue of about 15 persons were ahead of me and one of the bank staff steps forward to greet me with a smile. She then offered to write down the notes denomination and amount I need and inform me that the waiting time is approximately 45 minutes to an hour. She also highlighted to me that I can pre-order the new notes online in future to avoid the queue and come in to collect them without queuing. After that, she handed over two packs of Ang Pow packets to me.
For a while, I thought that was a very pleasant customer service experience and quickly drove off the frustrations associated to the one-hour queue then. In other words, the kind gesture make me felt that the wait at the bank was not so bad after all. With this perception comes the willingness and acceptance to wait in the queue as I am not a strong advocate of Internet Banking due to security concerns.
In my opinion, personal human interaction is both an art as well as a science. It is an art because it involves a special skill to handle it well. It is however, a form of social science since an interaction brings forth a corresponding reaction. I guess that is what sociologist and social workers do to bring and spread happiness to people they deal with.
Nevertheless, it is also a skill that any one of us ought to pick as good, positive human interactions can enhance the quality of our lives and bring happiness to others in the community too!
We all have emotions and our emotional stage at any one time can affect and has a bearing on our mindset on life. As such, I strongly believe that the ability to control and 'manage' our emotions is very important as it is a deciding factor of our 'happiness index'.
If one is thankful for what one already has and perceives one's state of life as 'satisfying' in one's life, one will naturally feel happy. Conversely, someone who is forever not satisfied with whatever he/she has will never be happy.
Simple as the saying goes, it is usually easier said that done. It is often a great challenge for many of us to get over irresistible temptations that pops up all around us! Whenever a new luxury product is launched and people get to see and witness its powers, it is often difficult to resist the urge to acquire it and this urge gets stronger when they see others in their community owning and using it in no time! Soon, people start to think of excuses and reasons to want more things for themselves in addition to basic needs by calling it a way to reward themselves for working so hard or see it as a move up the social ladder or a mark of prestige in their own right. The list will go on and as people engage themselves in this never ending material pursuit, their emotional state changes according to the progress of this pursuit.
To people who enjoy the process of the pursuit for new and more advanced way of life, they naturally also enjoy happiness in their pursuit experiences. Thus, their mindset is tuned towards this direction for as long as they still have the energy and passion to continue with their trendy pursuits.
To those who lagged behind in the pursuit for some reasons, dis-satisfaction will start to set in and their happiness index also plunge as they find it increasingly more challenging to continue with the pursuit.
Hence, it is very true that we are the masters of our own destiny and therefore can decide the type of life we want, the level of comfort and the amount of luxuries we aspire to have to fit into our own definition of a good life for ourselves.
As such, I believe that everyone of us can 'bring happiness' into our lives by adjusting our own mindset to be in line with the status of our life which includes our income level, demands of our changing commitments and perceptions of life as and when necessary. Just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, happiness is in the mindset of the being.
Reading is a hobby that I have enjoyed since my school days. Through reading, I have gained much pleasure and also learned a lot of additional knowledge which are not taught in schools. Knowledge is power and books are an essential means to the acquisition of information and knowledge.
When I first pick up my reading hobby in my primary school days, I started by reading fairy tales and fiction books written by Enid Blyton, the Nancy Drew series, Hardy Boy series and later books from Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens........
As I move on to secondary school and tertiary institutions, I started to read novels and non-fiction books related to people behaviour, the science of everyday life and self-help books that includes various DIY (Do-it-yourself) tasks that are commonly performed at home.
As I enter the labour force, I started to read books about economics, politics and marketing techniques as I am gradually exposed to these topics at my workplace. After I got married, I started to read about family-life matters and later on child rearing techniques after my son comes along.
With my wide reading regimes, I come to realise how huge the world is and how tiny each one of us is. No matter how much I read, the little extra knowledge I gain each time is only a small drop from the vast ocean. Hence, I strongly believe that reading and learning should not stop for as long as I want to lead a meaningful life. For that, I am really thankful for the easy access to public libraries within our community so I have no worries of getting short of books to read!
With the advent of the world wide web and e-learning, the learning process is now made even easier and hassle-free with the introduction of eBooks for our learning. Ever since the eBook era started less than a decade ago, its level of popularity and acceptance by people all over the world had grown tremendously. However, while the electronic book can serve as a substitute for the conventional paper books, its role may slowly but surely move up to complement some important categories of paperbacks such as dictionaries and directories, just to name a few.
An eBook is an electronic copy of a book. You can start reading an eBook as soon as you've paid for it, so there is no waiting for delivery. eBooks also offer the convenience of size and portability; you can store your entire library on a laptop or other device.
In order to read an eBook, you need to download a small piece of free software known as an eBook reader. eBooks come in different formats and each format has its own reader software. The format you select will depend upon your operating system (Windows, Mac, etc) and whether you would like to read on a hand held device or on your computer.
You can download ebooks to computers, dedicated eBook devices, PDAs and mobile phones. Alternatively, you can also read books online, from any computer, anywhere, without downloading or installing anything. You can view some eBook related information on http://allhappytimelearning.com/home.html
