The 12 pillars of happiness
Submitted by Adam Rogers
“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves” – Victor Hugo
I don’t care what anyone else thinks – if there is one thing that I am certain of, it’s that happiness is the best mental health state we can achieve.
Having launched a podcast trying to find out what happiness means to different people (check it out on Spotify: The Pursuit of Happiness Podcast by Adam Rogers), I have come to realise that there are certain things that we need to do in order to achieve happiness.
Granted, there is no way of determining what makes someone happy, but if we can implement these 12 Pillars of Happiness into our daily living, we can most certainly strengthen the foundation on which our happiness sits.
Understanding – We need to have an understanding of what happiness is and what the benefits of happiness are to fully experience happiness
Authenticity – Happiness needs to be authentic to you
Vulnerability – We need to be vulnerable enough to accept that moments of happiness are fleeting
Freedom – Our moments of happiness need to be stress free
Bravery – We need to be brave enough to say no to people who try and force their happiness onto us
Variety Is the Spice of Life – We need a variety of different moments of happiness
Gratitude – We need to be thankful for our moments of happiness
Acknowledgement – We need to consciously acknowledge when we are having a happiness moment
Foresight – When we are having a bad moment, we need to have the foresight to know that we are going to have a happy moment at some point
Effort – Happiness requires effort; we need to work on it
Enjoyment – We need our moments of happiness to be full of enjoyment
Social Network – We need to consciously create a social network of people who want happiness as much as we do
As I struggle with my anxiety, I try to remind myself of these 12 Pillars of Happiness as often as I can. I have access to them on a daily basis, and they help me realise that happiness is still achievable, irrespective of what kind of chaos my anxiety is trying to install into me.
This article has been reposted with permission of the author. The original can be found here.
