The title of this article might seem a bit stupid or off putting to everyone. How can I possibly make you happy? Maybe, I can talk about dogs. You love dogs, Don’t you? They might make you happy. Or I can talk about your favorite destination. That would make you happy for sure. Or wait, Can I talk to you about your love life? That might do the task as well. But How is it possible that I can make every reader happy with one common topic?
The answer is “I can’t!”. I can not make you happy. And you didn’t believe that either. We all have heard the phrase “The key to your happiness lies in your hands” and yet we fail to implement it in our daily lives. We all know its meaning and yet we do not clearly understand it. We are constantly trying to measure our happiness through someone else’s eyes. The secret to your happiness can never be found anywhere else. Have you tried thinking what makes you sad rather than what makes you happy? People tend to get happy at minimum number of things and they get sad or grumpy at most of the events. But how can we improve that?
There is one simple solution to this. You might have heard of “Why-Why Analysis” in various management lessons but this trick works like wonder here too. I will explain to you how does this work. Suppose you have a problem. For example: You are worried about the presentation that you have to give tomorrow. Let’s think about it on similar grounds.
Why are you worried?
I am not good at public speaking and I might sound like a fool trying to present my thought.
Why are you not good at public speaking and why do you think you are stupid?
I am not a very confident person and others in office are really good. They have amazing skills.
Why are you not confident?
I don’t have a clear answer for this but I guess I was born this way.
Why do you think you were born different from others?
I don’t think like others and they might make fun of me.
Why do you think all other people will think alike? What would happen if they make fun of you?
That’s right. There will always be some who might grasp my thinking process. But if they make fun of me, I might drown in shame.
Why are you assuming you will do bad?
Because I have never done that before and I am scared.
Every day you do new things. You don’t fail it. What makes you think you will fail this?
That’s actually right. I might give that a shot. I have all the reasons to do it all.
This was just a vague example to explain you how does the “Why-Why Analysis” work. You could implement it in anything you do and any problem you have. It is surely going to give you the insight to your fear and you will eventually know your fear was baseless.
Another problem most of us face is spending our time thinking about past and future more than living our problems. Half of the time we are worried about the things that has not yet happened and half of it is wasted in thinking about stuff that has already happened. Let’s talk about the future. I know that for sure, you don’t have a time machine. You can’t travel to the future and know what is going to happen next. Why assume it then? Even if you want to assume, why assume only the worst case scenario? Just imagine the upcoming events to be the best of your times. That would keep you happy and you will eventually be happy and content in the present too. Problem solved.
Talking about the past, you still don’t have the time machine. Every one does mistakes and not having a time machine means you cannot travel back and correct that mistake. Do you think crying over it or getting depressed is going to change any bit of your past? It won’t. Stop Crying! When you do that, you are actually making your present miserable too.
You cannot change your past, you cannot predict your future. All you have is present. You can not and should not destroy it thinking of something you can never change. Live your present or it will be past soon. The key to happiness really lies in your hands and thinking straight in the present makes the path much easier.
No one would have ever told you but happiness is the most infectious thing ever.
If you are happy, you are actually contracting happiness to every person that meets you. How amazing would it be to see happy people all around with no remorse? Think about it. Be happy and make others happy as well. You have the power to change the face of the planet that is turning gloomy. You are powerful. Believe that. You are happy.
