Genuine Happiness Comes from Within

Genuine Happiness Comes from Within

Life isn’t the sweetest candy. Sometimes, when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” Then I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to love yourself.

My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”

When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life lit it has never done you any good, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.

I believe that life is about finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy.

How to be genuinely happy in spite all these? I tell you… every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.

Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFLs. Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”, instead of looking at it all blank and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.

Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning the highest 13th month pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life doesn’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best. So, how do you become genuinely happy? Every one has his own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as much best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire. You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.

When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.

Again, throw me that same question “how to become genuinely happy?”. I’ll refer you to a friend of mine who strongly quoted- “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pain. But most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self. Coz then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”

How To Help Yourself When You Are Depressed

Depression Help

Depression can make you feel tired, worthless, hopeless and helpless. Such negative thinking has a great impact on your view upon life and the world and sometimes they can make you feel like giving up. However, it is very important to realize that this negative thinking is part of the depression and do not reflect the reality accurately.

How To Help Yourself When You Are Depressed

If you follow a treatment, negative feelings will gradually fade out. In the meantime, there are a lot of things you could do by yourself:

l Set realistic goals and assume a reasonable degree of responsibility.

l Try to split large tasks into smaller ones, set your priorities and do what you can the way you can.

l Don't isolate yourself, try to socialize and have someone to talk to.

l Do all the things that make you feel a little better.

l Light exercising, going to a ballgame, a movie or participating in social or religious activities might help.

l Don't expect miraculous results. Feeling better will take time.

l Try to postpone major decision until you are cured from depression. If you have to do it earlier, talk to someone who knows you very well and has a more objective perspective over the situation.

l Very few people just "snap out" of a depression. However, you will feel a little better day by day. Allow people who care for you to help you.

How Can Family And Friends Provide Depression Help

The most important thing family and friends can do is to help the depressed person seek professional depression help. This includes encouraging him or her to make an appointment to a therapist, take the prescription medication, look for another treatment in case the first doesn't work and obey the doctor's rules about alcohol use. Secondly, it is very important to offer emotional support, such as affection, understanding and encouragement. Try to engage him or her in conversations and listen carefully to what he/she has to say. Remarks about suicide should be reported to the therapist. Try to involve the depressed person in social activities, especially in those who he/she used to enjoy. However, do not push him/her, as this can increase the feeling of failure.

Never acuse a depressed person of laziness or faking illness and do not expect him/her to just "snap out of it". With time and professional treatment, it generally gets better. Keep reminding yourself and the depressed person that eventually he/she will start feeling better.

Where To Get Depression Help

If you are not sure where you can go for depression help, look in the Yellow pages under "health", "mental health", "social services", "crisis", "crisis intervention services", "suicide prevention", "hotlines", "physicians", "hospitals" for telephone numbers and addresses. In case of an emergency, the emergency room doctor from a hospital can provide temporary help and guide you to further help.

Here are the types of people that should be able to provide professional depression help:

l Family doctors

l Mental health specialists (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, mental health counselors)

l Community mental health centers

l Health maintenance organizations

l Psychiatry departments within hospitals

l University- or medical school-affiliated programs

l Family service, social agencies, clergy

l State hospital outpatient clinics

l Private clinics

l Local medical or psychiatric societies

l Employee assistance programs