When we think about being happy, we think about feeling good. We think about our own emotions. The truth is that being truly happy is a selfless act.
The question is are you truly happy?
Do What Makes You Happy
We’ve all heard the advice to do what makes you happy. To some it seems like brilliant advice and to others it seems like feelgoodery (which sounds like a terribly named Lemony Snicket character).
Doing what makes you happy is brilliant advice. What’s more, being truly happy is a selfless act. Before we look at that the bigger question, are you able to decipher between true happiness and just feeling good? Some people aren’t so good at it. Just ask the people who get turned on by bridges.
Bridges Turn People On
A study by researchers Dutton and Aron had men walk across a bridge. One group walked across a wobbly bridge 200 feet above rocks and shallow rapids. Another group walked across a steady bridge.
After walking across the bridge, each person was approached by a woman who gave her name and number in case they had anything to add about their experience. The men who stepped off the wobbly bridge were much more likely to call the woman and ask her out on a date.
The heightened emotion of the bridge, it seems, had made them misattribute their emotional state as arousal, interviews with the men and other studies confirm. It seems we don’t do a good job of understanding our emotions at all times.
When you know what true happiness is, being truly happy is a selfless act.
True Happiness
Having fun isn’t true happiness. It’s just fun. Enjoying yourself isn’t true happiness, it’s just enjoying yourself.
Feeling fulfilled despite your circumstances, means, or possessions is true happiness. Here’s the thing: being truly happy is a selfless act.
Why? Because happiness is contagious. People that love life make other people happy to be alive. People that find joy in the relationships they have make people feel valued and important. People that know how to have a great time no matter what bring an infectious level of hope and excitement that simply makes the world better.
Focus on being truly happy. Find out where you can make a difference. Enjoy who you are and what you do. Foster strong relationships. Because being truly happy is a selfless act, and the world is always in more need of happiness.
