The Ultimate Birthright is Happiness

The Ultimate Birthright is Happiness

Happiness is both easy and complicated. It is the culmination of almost 2,000 years of philosophy, psychology, speculation, and debate regarding the meanings and causes of pleasure. From Aristotle in 340 B.C. to today's contemporary philosophers, lecturers, and writers, this secret to pleasure has remained mostly unchanged. It is the same for almost all men and women in all countries and areas of life. The secret to happiness is to devote yourself to the development of your inherent skills and abilities by doing what you like doing and doing it better and better in service of a cause bigger than yourself.

This is a significant declaration and commitment. To be happy, you must define your life on your own terms and then devote your whole heart to enjoying it to the fullest. In some ways, happiness necessitates being completely selfish in order to grow yourself to the point where you can be completely selfless for the rest of your life.

Your Joy Must Come First

Cyrano is questioned in Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac about why he is so profoundly individualistic and unconcerned with the views and judgments of others. He responds with these lovely words: "I am what I am because I decided early in life that I would please at least myself in all things."

Your pleasure is also dependent on your capacity to satisfy yourself with everything. Most individuals, however, are hesitant to use their own pleasure as a yardstick against which to assess the events in their lives. This is largely because we allow others to define or influence what makes us happy. And we often feel that making other people happy is more essential than making ourselves happy. This is absurd.

Humans are happiness-seeking creatures. Everything we do in life is geared toward preserving and enhancing our happiness level. We are psychologically created in such a manner that it is difficult for us to be anything else without being mentally and emotionally ill. The truth is that you cannot offer others what you do not have for yourself. You can't donate money to the poor if you don't have any, and you can't make someone else happy if you're unhappy.

The greatest approach to ensuring the happiness of others is to first be happy and then share your pleasure with them. Suffering and self-sacrifice only serve to depress and discourage others. Start by living the sort of life and doing the kinds of things that make you happy if you want to make others happy.

Permit Happiness to be Your Guide

Make pleasure your organizing principle in life. That is, weigh every conceivable action and choice against your happiness criterion to see if it would make you happier or unhappier. Soon, you will see that practically all of your difficulties stem from decisions you have made—or are presently making—that do not contribute to your pleasure.

Of course, there will be several occasions when you will have to perform little things that do not make you happy in order to achieve your bigger pleasure. "Happiness, as Earl Nightingale put it, is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. "You feel really happy only when you are taking little steps toward achieving clearly defined objectives that you believe will improve the quality of your enjoyment.

Because you can't be fully happy unless you understand your natural capabilities, it's critical that you assess yourself on a regular basis and identify your strengths and limitations. There's an ancient adage that "success leaves tracks." You can look back on your life and figure out who you are and what you should be doing with it. One of the most effective methods to do this is to ask yourself this strong question on a regular basis:

What One Great Thing Would I Dream if I Knew I Couldn't Fall?

Consider yourself totally certain of success in the pursuit of a certain objective, large or small, short-term or long-term. Assume you have all the money, all the time, all the knowledge, all the connections, all the resources, and everything else you might possibly need to fulfill any one major life goal. What exactly would it be? This is a critical topic because, when you remove the constraints from your thinking, you often get a very clear notion of what you should be doing with your life. Your biggest dream reflects your innate strengths and what is most important to you.

Every successful man or woman is a huge dreamer. They picture their fortune as perfect in every way, and then they labor every day to achieve their far-reaching vision, goal, or mission. Their actual happiness is derived from the gradual fulfillment of their dream.

The Four Categories of Life

Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning, said that everything you accomplish in life may be classified into four categories. The first group includes items that are difficult to learn and do. Mathematics is a popular example for many people. Many of us suffered with arithmetic in school and continue to struggle as adults with bookkeeping, accounting, financial statements, and tax returns. If you find mathematics difficult to understand and perform, this is certainly not the activity for you. You will never get permanent fulfillment or enjoyment from it, no matter how much of it you do or how skilled you become at it.

The following category includes things that are difficult to learn yet simple to perform. Riding a bicycle, driving a vehicle, and tying your shoes are all difficult skills to master if you've trained enough. These are seldom the kinds of things that make you feel great about yourself when you perform them. They don't expect you to give it your all.

The third group includes topics that are simple to understand but difficult to execute. This area includes physical work. Digging a trench with a shovel and cutting wood with an ax are simple to learn but difficult to master.

The fourth category is crucial. These are simple things to learn and execute. You seem to have a natural affinity for them. Time flies when you're doing something like this. Things that are simple for you to learn and accomplish are what you should be doing with your life. They demonstrate your innate capabilities and abilities. Engaging in these things wholeheartedly and being committed to becoming better and better would provide you with all the pleasure, fulfillment, and happiness you could desire in life.

Happiness does not Come by Accident

Everyone excels in one or more areas. Everyone has something exceptional that he or she can accomplish. It may take weeks, months, or even years to develop yourself in that area so that you can really perform exceptionally well, but you will be passionately drawn to that kind of action from the start. You'll like reading about it, talking about it, and contemplating it. You will find yourself appreciating people who excel in that field. You'll yearn for that field and wonder what it's like to work in it and be successful at it. That is often your heart's desire. That field of activity in which you can succeed is most likely what you were born to perform.

Decide to persevere until you achieve. The first element of bravery is the will to go forward in faith toward your goals; the second component is the readiness to persevere in the face of the inevitable failures and setbacks along the way.

Happiness does not happen by chance. Happy individuals are those who choose to do the things that will always lead to happiness. Happy individuals are those who know what they want and then devote their whole lives to utilizing their particular skills and abilities to make a difference in the world by achieving their objectives.

You were placed on this planet for a specific reason, with unique skills and abilities that have yet to be completely tapped and exploited. When you devote all of your efforts to realizing your full potential, you will be able to claim your ultimate birthright: happiness.