In our lifetime how many times a day do we think how can I have more. More time, more money, more food, more energy….etc. Very seldom do we take the time to evaluate where we are and what we have in the NOW. It’s hard for us to simply give thanks or show gratitude because the world tells us, there is always more.
Social media seems to condition us for more, under our friends’ guise of happiness and acceptance. We desire to have the things we don’t possess leaving us riddled with dissatisfaction high in debt, doubt and insecurity, and then we ask ourselves why we can never feel full or satisfied. All of these things come down to one thing, and that is simply the fact that we are not truly HAPPY.
But wait…there is a solution!
Positive Psychology suggests that we build from our current strengths not fixating on our bad behavior or focusing on what we need to fix. Positive Psychology suggests we become appreciative and grateful in the now, that’s where we find true happiness. When we are operating from a space of happiness, we are building from our strengths. Building from strengths and fully operating from a lens of positivity, allows us to produce excellence. Taking it a step further, not only do we produce excellence, but we capitalize to our full potential and find ourselves at our peak in the realms of performance.
Positive Psychology and being “grateful in the now” improves our thoroughness, efficiency, and flexibility of complex decision making and influences one’s sense of standards to evaluate your progress against a set of standards. Also, it facilitates the quality and quantity of pathways of thought and seems to boost an aspect of execution function, which is the ability to adjust efficiently to new information and undertake new problem solving efforts in congruence with the new information.
Think about it, when we get a new house, new car or bigger boat we automatically assume we will be happy but the opposite really happens. We tend to forget that wanting more, when we actually get it, means that more is required of us, therefore….that new boat didn’t really seal the deal on happiness because now, there’s just a new problem(s) waiting. This new problem has another level of new responsibility. When we appreciate everything around us and are grateful for what we have we are more creative, relaxed and happy and it is in those moments where the other things we desire but don’t always pursue come as a result.
So what now?
Be grateful in the now, build on your strengths. Learning to be happy starts with being grateful and thankful. Life isn’t always easy, but it is about decisions. Making a decision today to be thankful by controlling your attitude and actions is doable. If you really want to learn more about gratefulness being the key for happiness feel free to check out this article:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10W7M8ADyTY72i8tiIJ5HcdGIa-tqwWKs/view?usp=sharing