Be Purposefully Happy
I recently saw a quote on a social platform about being purposefully happy. It highlighted an aspect of life that I think many people don’t pay attention to, that happiness requires an intention to be happy. Sometimes we do happen upon happiness. There are times in life when the circumstances are just right, the pieces feel like they’ve come together, and happiness hits us. These are unexpected joyful moments, cheerful milestones, or hard work that finally pays off. This happiness is the exception, not the rule. Most happiness isn’t something we stumble upon. Most of life isn’t celebrations like meeting the love of our life, adopting a puppy, or getting a promotion at work.
Most of life happens in the daily to-do lists, in the ordinary normalcy of living. You don’t want to live for the big happy moments, because those moments don’t come around every day. Finding happiness in your daily life is key. Determining how to find happiness in the day set out in front of you is a worthy endeavor. This is when being purposefully happy becomes important. Savor the taste of your coffee in the morning, enjoy the feeling of changing seasons, find joy in putting your children to bed every night. Be intentional about creating a life where you find happiness in the normalcy.
Remember that happiness doesn’t equal easy. Often happiness comes after doing the hard things, after working for it, fighting for it, after creating new patterns to allow it. It comes from taking the time and effort to determine what makes you genuinely happy. From changing your routines and making different choices. Happiness is recognizing that things aren’t perfect and being happy anyway. Happiness comes from being content with where you are instead of needing more. It’s an awareness of all that can be done and being content with what was done already.
Sometimes happiness hits you, but most of the time it’s a choice you make. It’s something you have to purposefully create not happen upon. Becoming aware of this and intentionally creating happiness in the normalcy is where sustainable happiness lies.