5 KEYS TO GAINING [and keeping] HAPPINESS

Found this GREAT article while perusing a 'freebie magazine' and just had to share! How true and simple most of it is - but sooooo hard to practice!

5 KEYS TO GAINING [and keeping] HAPPINESS
By Istvan Fazekas

1. AVOID NEGATIVE OR UNHAPPY PEOPLE
People influence you with their emotional health, whether you know it or not.
Happy and positive people can inspire and motivate you, while unhappy and negative people can easily pull you down to their level. Whether you walk on rose petals or dead fish, your shoes will retain the smell of whatever it comes in contact with. Your personality is the same, so be
selective with your influences.

2. DO SOMETHING TO BOLSTER ANOTHER’S REPUTATION OR SELF-ESTEEM
We actually gain more happiness by helping another than by doing just for ourselves. This might seem counterintuitive, but it is true once our survival essentials are met. Helping another do well provides you with a great feeling of usefulness and helps you step out of your “prison” of self-interest. Once you can see outside of that small box you can understand the enormous value in living a life being useful to others. When they succeed, you succeed; when they win, you win; when they triumph over a bad habit, you also triumph. Then, instead of having just one person contributing to your happiness (yourself), you have many.

3. SERVE SOMEONE LESS FORTUNATE
This is related to the previous lesson but is even more basic. Instead of working to bring another positive recognition, serving requires helping someone to meet the basics of life. This could entail
providing food, clothing or shelter, or imparting a more complex skill like time, money or stress management. Service is teaching, coaching or mentoring someone who has not had the same privileges as you. There is potentially great happiness in this kind of service.

4. BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR WORDS
Next time, before you speak, silently ask yourself these three questions:
A. “Is it necessary to say?” Many verbal retorts and reactions do not further wisdom, peace or joy.
B. “Is it the truth?” Are you saying it to appeal to your or another’s ego? Is it creatively embellished? Is it purposefully misleading? If you let the truth speak for itself, you can avoid a sore throat.
C. “Does it create a barrier to remove one?” Speak only if it removes a barrier, not if it creates one. The adage “What comes around, goes around,” reflects an ancient life philosophy called “karma.” The concept of karma, meaning “action” in Sanskrit, just means that whatever actions you take in this world, good or bad, will have an influence upon your life. Using language responsibly is one step towards understanding your place in the Grand Scheme of things: You are but one player on the chessboard of life, interacting with and depending upon all the others.

5. DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST, STAY IN THE PRESENT
Much of our unhappiness is derived from the attachment to memories of past events. We replay a difficult conversation, re-live a stressful event or repeat negative self talk that we adopted years ago. Learning how to stay in the present helps us to be more alive. We can then enthusiastically accept the gift of each new day and make the necessary internal changes to open
ourselves to more joy, gratitude and love. Replace the bad of yesterday with the good of today and live a happier life.