Make Happiness Your Purpose

Have you ever had the sense that you’ve been put on this earth for a purpose? Ever wondered what your purpose is? I believe that the purpose of my life is to be happy and to make as many other people as I can happy.

I smile a lot. I laugh out loud. I hug at the drop of a hat. I am happy. And I try to help other people find their happy. When I see someone struggling, I lend a hand. If I hear worry or heartbreak in a voice, I offer an ear. I reach out and touch to let others know I am willing to share my happy with them.

I’m not always happy. I have my days when I fall out of happy. I don’t so much rush to get back in as try to figure out what happened and what I can do to alleviate the not-happy. Everyone gets angry. Everyone feels sad. Life can be a bitch. But if you stay in the nasty zone, you’re doing yourself more harm, so I find a way to kick my ass back into happy.  That’s because I know my happiness is my responsibility.

I am far more productive when I’m happy. I’m also healthier. And happy is great relationship cement.

Research shows that fear – in which almost all negative emotion is rooted – has been designed to make us heal past wounds and strengthen our capacity to cope. The fear response (whether it’s anger, sadness, or scared-silly-ness) is supposed to make us THINK. It’s designed to help us integrate our experiences to create understanding so we grow.

Handling fear – dealing with the crap life throws at you – is a learned experience. So when I find myself panicking, boiling, cowering, crying, I don’t hide from the experience. When my life sucks, I get mad. Sometimes I cry. But then I figure out what I’m going to do to get back to happy.

Martin Seligman describes a formula for enduring happiness in his book in Authentic Happiness. He says it’s equal to your happiness set point (which is different for all of us) plus your life circumstances, plus your individual habit patterns, which include happy thoughts and happy activities. While you may have been born with a low set point, and your circumstances may suck, if you establish the right habits, you can raise your level of happiness.

Gandhi said, “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world…as in being able to remake ourselves.” If you’re not happy, what are you going to do about it?