Happiness
Such a powerful word in American culture
Much of my life, I had thought of happiness as a rather nebulous term. I also had some impressions that because I was fortunate enough to have been born in a first world country, happiness was just part of the package. That general disengaged and not important perspective changed about a decade ago when my wife and I learned that she had cancer. I needed to do some inner reflection for strength and direction. One of the questions that circulated through my mind was the following; How effective is the use of Happiness as a catalyst to gain a more positive outlook on life?
Is happiness created from within or is it largely a reaction to outside stimulus? If I am unhappy, it is so easy for me …show more content…
Online I found the central concepts of this model, on a post by Leo Babauta. I took his original ideas and apple polished them to my liking. The paradigm includes three tenants. The first element of the model is fostering a Positive Attitude. A positive approach is expecting events to work out more for-the-better than not. Also, there is the acceptance that having more good events that happen than not, does constitute a happy life. It involved me being cognizant at my impressions of the outside world as being gratefulness of how positive it is. The second element of the paradigm is Healthy Positive Relationships. For me, it is important to have warm accepting, healthy relationship energy in my life. If I have deemed the relationships as important, and it seems on edge, I work at moving the interaction in a more positive direction. As human beings, I believe relationships are important to many parts of life. The third element of my paradigm is Flow. Flow is a state of being when one is enjoying and so consumed in their current activity that they can easily lose track of time. I have had many experiences of becoming so enthralled in an activity; that time seemed to fly by without notice. Having a personal happiness paradigm has helped me focus my efforts and actions for greater productivity in making strides towards
Such a powerful word in American culture
Much of my life, I had thought of happiness as a rather nebulous term. I also had some impressions that because I was fortunate enough to have been born in a first world country, happiness was just part of the package. That general disengaged and not important perspective changed about a decade ago when my wife and I learned that she had cancer. I needed to do some inner reflection for strength and direction. One of the questions that circulated through my mind was the following; How effective is the use of Happiness as a catalyst to gain a more positive outlook on life?
Is happiness created from within or is it largely a reaction to outside stimulus? If I am unhappy, it is so easy for me …show more content…
Online I found the central concepts of this model, on a post by Leo Babauta. I took his original ideas and apple polished them to my liking. The paradigm includes three tenants. The first element of the model is fostering a Positive Attitude. A positive approach is expecting events to work out more for-the-better than not. Also, there is the acceptance that having more good events that happen than not, does constitute a happy life. It involved me being cognizant at my impressions of the outside world as being gratefulness of how positive it is. The second element of the paradigm is Healthy Positive Relationships. For me, it is important to have warm accepting, healthy relationship energy in my life. If I have deemed the relationships as important, and it seems on edge, I work at moving the interaction in a more positive direction. As human beings, I believe relationships are important to many parts of life. The third element of my paradigm is Flow. Flow is a state of being when one is enjoying and so consumed in their current activity that they can easily lose track of time. I have had many experiences of becoming so enthralled in an activity; that time seemed to fly by without notice. Having a personal happiness paradigm has helped me focus my efforts and actions for greater productivity in making strides towards