Pursuing happiness is the main agenda of most people. Oxford Dictionary defined pursue as follow with the intent to catch or capture. What I got from the definition was that happiness is something out there, something that we have to follow and catch to feel or to experience it. That something might be getting a fulfilling job, a million dollars, a perfect mate, so on and so forth.

A few years back I was complaining about me not getting a promotion. I was not happy and I thought getting a promotion will bring me the happiness I was pursuing. I got the promotion and I was very happy. However the happiness did not last long. New commitments were made, more bills were added and some of them were getting bigger. A new pursue began, “I’ll be happy if I get another promotion.” I was present to the fact that the same cycle will continue, on and on and on….. Am I going to let myself in the same “fate” as I was before or get out of it? I chose to be grateful with what I have at the moment and enjoy it. By choosing to be grateful, I’m releasing the happiness which is already inside me (and every one of us). If we do not chose to be grateful, greed will prevent us from feeling the happiness.

I did not say that you should be “contented” and not working hard to pursue your dream. You should continue pursuing your dream, but you don’t have to postpone your happiness to “someday”. You can experience the happiness right now, regardless of the situation you are in now by accepting what you are having.

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.” - Charles F Kettering.

Happy is a way of being. When you are being happy, you created a space that allowed yourself to be the best you can. When you give your best, the universe will give the best to you.

Many people said “Money can’t buy happiness”. Have you ever thought otherwise? In yesterday’s posting, I shared that you can find happiness in giving. You can find happiness if you give away money or anything that can make a different in people’s life.

As I was reading today’s (Sunday) local paper, I come across an article “Money Can Buy Happiness, if it’s spent on others”. Hmmm, quite interesting. The article is based on the research done by a team led by Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The researches found that people who reported spending more money on others were happier.

You can read the article here:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5itqrYnBRd3HQ9lZjRFSuEDoIl2dg

Many of us postpone our happiness to “someday”. Most of my friends said that they will be happy when their loans have been settled, get promotion, all their kids enrolled into university, their spouses get their act together, get a bigger and nicer house, nicer car, and so on and on.

Thus they work hard to achieve their dream and be happy. When they are busy chasing their dream, their child busy growing up and their parent are growing older. Sadly for them, they missed that part of their life and that “someday” never actually comes. I was also committing the same “sin” in the past. I remember that most of the conversations I have with my peers centered on climbing the corporate ladder. We work until late hours to get noticed and get promoted. We contributed to the company in order to get reward, a raise or a promotion. There were no joy and happiness, only stress.

You and I, we can have happiness in every single moment of our life. It is up to us to choose, to be happy or to be miserable.

There are three factors that can create happiness.

First; you’ll be happy when you receive recognition. You are happy when you are being presented with “Employee on the Year” award, etc.

Second; you’ll be happy when you receive gift or get what you wanted. You are happy when you get your birthday gift, get married, get your dream car, move into dream home, so on and so forth…

Third; you’ll be happy when you can help or make a difference in other people’s life. Why? It is because human beings are wired to make a difference in this world. Thus you’ll be happy when you can do what you are programmed to do. The universe (God) will be fair to you. When you do what you’re wired to do, the universe (God) will make a difference in your life. First thing you’ll get is happiness. Remember, what you give you’ll get back. You give love, you’ll get love. You help others, others will help you. You give money, you’ll get prosperity.

You might probably ask, “I’ve been giving money away for years, but my own prosperity doesn’t seem to grow at all. Is something wrong here?”

Ask yourself why you give away the money. Do you want to look good or avoiding looking bad, or you give away the money because you have to. You’ll get the happiness (and prosperity) when there is no “in order to” in your giving. You give simply because you want to give. That’s the secret.

If you notice, the first and the second happiness factor are not control by you. You depend on others to be happy. Thus, you can’t generate happiness whenever you want it. So you convince your self that “someday” you’ll be happy, and that “someday” never comes.

The third factor is within your control. It is up to you when you want to give. Give whatever and to whomever you want to give and give with little or no expectation. It is not always about money, you can give a helping hand, your love, your concern, your support, your wisdom, etc…

“If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.” – Chinese proverb.

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle.

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” – Cynthia Nelms.

Make a different in people’s life and you’ll be happy. Why? Because that what we are wired for.