Happiness is subjective, and people always pursue happiness, whatever the term means for them. Some people become happy with simple things such as getting a fresh coffee cup each morning, while others can only become happy by changing their lifestyles. The key to true happiness must not come from material things but from understanding who you are and how much you need to change to have a brighter future. Happiness should be more of spiritual pursuit, and with this, you need to transform yourself from the inside to be truly happy. Here are some ways to make yourself happy.
Accept Responsibility. It would help if you learned to accept that you are mostly based on your actions and decisions. Do not find blame on others for your current situation. It is your decision if you want to be happy or unhappy. You must choose not to be a victim of circumstances and become the master of your inner self. The faster you accept the responsibility for where you are today, the quicker you will get to where you want to be in the future.
Clarity. Your unhappiness might come from a traumatic experience during your childhood, which caused you to become anxious, resentful, and isolated. Most of this experience involves having the feeling of guilt, pain, shame or blame. It is best to become aware of the real reason why you are unhappy. When you have clarity about that experience, you will find that the story of that experience will disappear.
Forgiveness. This next step is closely associated with clarity. As you become aware of the person or persons who have hurt you before, you are now aware of the people you need to forgive. This is a very hard thing to do. However, not forgiving somebody who hurt you before will only perpetuate the pain and allow that person to still hold on to you. Forgiving that person means that you are letting go of him or her completely or just the hurtful actions. Forgiveness allows you to heal your heart.
Gratitude. Look around for things that you can feel grateful for daily. Waking up to a bright, sunny day, be grateful for that. A person held the elevator button long enough for you to get in; be grateful for that as well. Gratitude will give you a far more powerful emotion than hate or resentment. Fill your inner self with gratitude to keep your spirits up the entire day.
Service. You should ask yourself before you decide and act on something whether you are doing it for your ego or doing it as a service for your divine destiny; when you shift your intentions from fulfilling your ego or self-gratification to a mission of serving more than yourself, will allow you to grow spiritually. Your actions are now serving a greater purpose other than just yourself. This is a major step in reaching true fulfillment, which will lead to true happiness.
All these five steps mentioned above will be meaningless unless you take action. It is best if you commit to performing these steps to the best of your capacity so that you will be happy.
