What is happiness?

What does it mean to be “happy?” Many have tried to define it. For instance:

Gandhi said: Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Ayn Rand said: Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.

Robert Ingersoll, the famous Agnostic saind: Happiness is not a reward – it is a consequence.

Aristotle the most famous philosopher said: Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

Margaret Lee Runbeck said: Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

Someone else has offered the following advice about how you can be happy. They said

1. Don't expect perfection from yourself or anyone else. Progress is good enough.

2. Accept others. Stop judging.

3. Stay in the present. Do not waste time and energy regretting the past or worrying about the future.

4. Be grateful.

5. Decide to be happy. Having the intention to be happy, regardless of current circumstances, attracts conditions that support you.

6. Be self-authorized. Stop making choices based on what others believe you should do, think, or be.

7. Choose how you feel. Learn to pause. Take a moment to choose how you wish to react and feel.

8. Examine your beliefs. Often things in our life we accept as facts are really self-defeating beliefs.

9. Expand your options. Drop the word "can’t" from your self-talk. Allow yourself to dream big. On a weekly basis, write down all your desires, and let the sky be the limit. No one has to see this list but you!

10. Create what you desire. Rather than putting all your energy into pushing away the things you don’t want, direct your energy into creating what you do want.