If there’s one thing most people are looking for, that would be happiness. Happiness, for them, means having a lot of free time to kill and more than enough to spend. And yet, the reality is far less optimistic: there’s too much work to accomplish, relationships with your family and friends are stunted, and all these technological advancements are leading nowhere close to happiness. What’s even sadder is an increasing number of people can’t function well unless they take prescription drugs. Happiness and inner peace are nowhere near the horizon, but there’s one surefire solution that can certainly lead us one step closer to it: meditation.
1. Stop joining the rat race.
It’s a never-ending race to attain the quality of life that you want, and if you deliberately indulge yourself in the midst of all the commercialization, advertisements, and promotions, you will never feel contented. If you continually choose to satisfy yourself with all the impossibly high standards of beauty and youth, what you will feel is temporary excitement—until another product that you just have to buy comes around.
2. Don’t look for happiness in material things.
The reason is simple: you will never find contentment in them. Something better than what you have will always come along, and then you will have to spend again. It’s a never ending quest that will give you no satisfaction. If you really want to spend money, spend on experiences—hobbies and activities that you can enjoy with your loved ones.
3. Change the things that are not making you happy.
Make that choice, difficult as it may be, to stop whatever is preventing you from being truly happy. It may be that difficult job that’s requiring you to put in as much as 12 hours a day. Or your relationship with your friend who’s always trying to pull you down. It’s time to straighten out your priorities, and consider what makes you truly happy at the top of the list.
4. Confront your fears.
There may be fears and negative thoughts that are stopping you from truly pursuing happiness. Whenever these destructive feelings come up, always remember that it’s your ego that’s doing all the talking. It takes enormous strength and will to get over your fear—and once you convince yourself that you are strong enough to pursue your happiness, you’ll see things looking up.
5. Meditate.
When all is said and done, meditation is that one powerful exercise that will remove all your anxiety, build your confidence, and help you concentrate more on the tasks at hand.
