How to find happiness? Many of us seek our happiness outside ourselves, in the success of our projects, in what life brings us. So, without even realizing it, we put conditions on our happiness, and in so doing, prevent ourselves from experiencing it. What if I told you that happiness is already here, inside you? Here are 5 steps to finding it.

1 – Cut ourselves off from the mind to find happiness

If there’s one thing that stands in the way of happiness, it’s the mind. For the mind has a job: to think, project and remember. In other words, the mind is never in the here and now.

Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) for us, happiness is here and now.

That’s why, to find happiness, we need to regain awareness of our surroundings, and silence this useful, but sometimes over-invasive, mind.

I wholeheartedly invite you to ask yourself one question regularly, several times a day:

Am I happy right now?

Because we chase happiness, we’ll be happy when we’ve reached our goal or whatever, but that’s a lie.

Because happiness is here and now. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Now, with you!

Can you silence your mind that you need this and that to be happy in life, and simply enjoy the privilege of being alive?

Happiness isn’t on the outside, it’s on the inside, every moment of every day.

2 – Respect our bodies to find happiness

Our bodies are never good enough. Never perfect enough. We spend all our time maintaining our complexes. This body that does so much for us, that keeps us alive, we hide it, even mistreat it.

What if we stopped?

We won’t be happier with a perfect body, no matter how hard we try.

Because once you’ve got the body you want, other desires will take over and you’ll want it to be different again.

Remember that your happiness doesn’t depend on how your body looks, but on how much you love it.

Our bodies are what they are.

It’s a gift we received at birth. It carries our soul. Isn’t that wonderful enough for us to love it?

So I wholeheartedly invite you to stop believing what you see on TV or in magazines. Yes, spend more time looking at yourself in the mirror, learning to love every part of your body, instead of looking at others’.

We only have one body.

I suggest you make peace with your body, a little each day. To do so, I invite you to look in the mirror every morning and give yourself a compliment about your physique.

3 – Taking care of your dreams to find your happiness

We’re not immortal, even if we’d like to be, even if we live as if we were.

Yes, we live as if we were immortal. Why do we do this? Because we don’t realize our dreams. We always find excuses to put it off.

But later is already too late.

Who knows when our last day will come?

You’re mortal and that should give you wings.

Your happiness isn’t later, it’s now!

Finding happiness means letting yourself be guided by your dreams.

4 – Take care of your soul

We’re not just a body and a mind, we’re also a soul. Yes, we are part of the Universe, we are connected to it. Unfortunately, all too often we forget this. We feel separated from the magic of life. We become too rigid with too many expectations, and are increasingly disappointed by life.

Let’s learn to let go and accept the present as it is. It’s because we resist what happens to us that we create all kinds of suffering for ourselves.

Accepting the events of our lives means no longer wasting our energy in resistance, so that we can have the strength to change what we can change.

To find happiness, it’s essential to remember that we can’t control everything, so we mustn’t make our happiness dependent on projects that may or may not come to fruition.

Instead, let’s enjoy what we’re doing right now, and savour life’s simple moments.

5 – Invest in your relationships

Without our relationships, we can’t be happy, because we’re social animals. Exchanging, sharing and communicating with others is as essential as the air we breathe. Unfortunately, we tend to think that other people are hell. Others irritate, exhaust and disappoint us.

So how can we find happiness in our relationships without making it dependent on them?

In fact, we don’t always realize it, but we expect a lot from others. We expect them to behave one way and not another.

So when what they do doesn’t suit us, we feel frustrated, disappointed and sometimes even betrayed.

To find happiness, it’s essential to come back to ourselves.

What am I doing to make my relationships enjoyable? What do I give?

No more, no less.

Don’t wait to receive in order to give. Give in order to receive.

Happiness comes from you, not from others.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover Learn to be happy: 7 tips for being happy in all circumstances
Discover Starting meditation: 10 mistakes to avoid if you don’t want to give up

I recommend this inspiring book:

The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

In The Joy of Living, Tibetan Buddhist master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche explores the path to true happiness through the prism of mindfulness and meditation. Rinpoche explains how to cultivate a deep sense of joy and contentment by training the mind to be present in the moment. Drawing on his own experiences and teachings, this book provides practical advice for finding happiness within oneself, emphasizing the transformative power of mindfulness practices to meet life’s challenges.

I highly recommend it to anyone interested in improving their cognitive abilities from a meditative perspective!

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself