How do you know you are living the life you are supposed to be living?
Are you truly happy with the life you are living at the moment? What could you change to live the life you want to be living?
One way to look at it would be to ask: what is your idea of the highest good? And then: are you living in a way that is seeking to bring that about?
From an earthly point of view, a good life is a happy life.
Then the question becomes, what makes for happiness? Most of us don’t have a very good idea of this; we spend our time chasing after mates, money, and prestige, with not especially good results. Better answers were given by ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.
For these philosophers, happiness was the goal of life, and the virtues were the means of achieving that goal.
They held that the path to a happy life is the practice of virtue.
Back then, virtue was not the same thing as chastity, which to them was only part of the virtue called temperance. Temperance, or moderation in one’s sensual indulgences, was regarded as a virtue, but so were such things as courage, justice, prudence, and wisdom.
Happiness is a state of being wherein all my negative thoughts take a long vacation and forget the way back.
Some people need big things to be happy.
A big house, a fancy car, a diamond bracelet. And some people find happiness in the smallest of things — the feeling of dewy grass under your bare feet, the taste of your favourite meal in your mouth, a picture-perfect sunset, the feeling after an exhausting run, reading a good book, listening to a beautiful piece by Johann Sebastian Bach.
If you learn to find happiness in the tiniest of things, it makes happiness more easily achievable for you.
You don’t have to try too hard to be happy…which works for me as I am quite lazy when it comes to putting to be happy. Of course, if somebody gifts me a BIG bar of Savage Chocolate, I will be quite happy as well.
Do anything and everything that makes you happy…not what makes people around you happy.
Quick inspirations to be happy
- Don’t maintain a loft in your mind where you preserve unwanted thoughts.
- The past is in the past. Obviously, you should think about the great moments that happened in your life but don't stare at them for too long. Nostalgia can make you sad but when you have someone to share it with, you realize how precious that time had been for you, how precious your happiness at that time is for you and though your heart still pangs for the ‘good old time’, you find in yourself. Memories of being happy can give you an odd sense of comfort. They are like a life-aid sometimes.
- I have trained my nose to remain on my face where it has a job to do (like smelling the flowers on the way). It has no place in somebody else’s business.
- If you don’t like something, don’t do it. Life is too short to do things you don't want to do. Concentrate on the things you actually enjoy doing.
- Keep minimal expectations from life. The uncertainty of life is exciting!
- Try not to play to win. Play for the experience and the fun of the game.
I think that if we’re living our best life, we know it. There is an inner feeling of fulfillment and being on track. We feel good about what we’re doing, our conscience is clear, and we are excited and energized by our goals.
The best life is one in which you are making use of your particular talents and interests to bring about your idea of complete spiritual fulfillment.
And if what you do truly benefits others, then I think you will be living the life you are supposed to be living.
