The Pursuit of Happiness: Leap 1 of 7 — The Meaning
By: Niket Gupta
Tags: Self Improvement, Happiness, Meaning, Empowerment, Coaching

When we are asked about our ultimate goal or dream or desire of life, the general answer is I WANT TO BE HAPPY. Well, happiness is indeed the most precious ingredient of our lives. However, most of the time in our lives, we keep chasing happiness and yet, fail to attain it. In this series of The Pursuit of Happiness, I am going to explain to you the practical approach to make your life simpler and happier. I will also be sharing some real-life stories of participants of my coaching program who have achieved significant breakthroughs by practicing simple yet powerful concepts.

Before we go into the depth of how to be happy, let’s first understand why we struggle to be happy.

The Mirage of Happiness

Mirage is something that we think exists but, in reality, it does not. The same is the case with happiness in our life. We define our happiness in the form of milestones. I have heard people saying that they would be happy once they crack a particular exam, get a specific job or opportunity, find the perfect life partner, own a car or a house, achieve a comfortable monthly or yearly income, and when their children get all of the above. If you can observe, then I have mentioned the real-life chronology of most of us. Nothing wrong with such progression of life. However, we need to understand that setting and achieving milestones is a never-ending process. It is human nature to look for growth and progress. Hence, you will always end up chasing happiness if you define it with words like if, once, when, would, etc.

It is rightly said that it is always about the journey and not only the destination. We must be wanting to be happy each day and not once in a while.

Let me give you a potent hack to start this pursuit. Next time when someone asks you about how you are doing, reply with I AM HAPPY. Just do this and observe the change. 😊

The meaning of Happiness

Before we start, let’s establish the fact that the meaning of happiness is always subjective. Life will be easier if we understand that the meaning of happiness is different for different individuals, and one cannot force their meaning onto someone else.

Having said that, most of us will be able to form the meaning of happiness by combining a few of the following.

Happiness is a state of mind characterized by feelings of satisfaction, peace, joy, and harmony.

Happiness is mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

Happiness is a feeling of gratitude towards what you have in your life and enjoying small things.

Happiness is living by your core values.

Happiness means being content with your past, optimistic about the future, and enjoying your present.

Happiness is having good shelter and nutritious food.

I can’t agree more with the above explanations. However, they are broad in understanding and contain terms that need to be defined. Hence, I am presenting the simplest and most judicious definition of happiness given by one of the most influential persons ever lived.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -Mahatma Gandhi

Simple. Isn’t it? In my coaching program, I define this as the BEST STATE of an individual, and the program is curated to help people identify, attain and maintain their Best State.

Many would say that it can’t be so simple. We have been chasing happiness for a long time. If it was this simple, then anyone can attain it. All I can answer for now is life is simple but we have complicated it. Also, we have been conditioned in such a way that we believe we have to put a lot of effort to achieve anything substantial. I will show you in this series how you can create a happier life with simple concepts.

If you liked this blog, then don’t forget to clap. Please share your valuable inputs in the comment section along with your definition of happiness. I will see you next week with another leap in our Pursuit of Happiness.