Do you know why it is important to bring you closer to happiness? To make you a better person, or to make you a happier person? Hopefully, it’s both.
One of the most important things to realize when you are on a quest for self development is that happiness is not something that other people bring you like a birthday gift. Happiness comes from what you yourself do. It comes from acting in line with your own ethical values in a way that brings you closer to your personal goals.
Here Are 7 Steps To Bring You Closer To Happiness
1. Know Your Purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction – hoping that you’ll find happiness, health and prosperity?
Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time.
This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight corner or facing a dead end. But identifying your purpose will help you to find the way out, even when it seems there isn’t one.
2. Know Your Values
What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning.
As you set your goals for the year, check your goals against your values.
If a goal doesn’t align with any of your top five values, you may want to reconsider it or revise it.
3. Know Your Needs
Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be heard, to be fed, to be loved in some way that is not being met right now?
There are so many people who live their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed.
List your top five needs and be creative in thinking of ways you could have them be met. It’s never too late!
4. Know Your Passions
You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm may hinder you, but need not prevent you from becoming the person you ought to be.
Express yourself and honor the people who have inspired you to become who you are.
5. Live From The Inside Out
Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it’s hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home.
You may choose to meditate, to walk in a quiet place or to sit and listen to gentle music. Silence does not necessarily mean no sound at all, but requires a certain inner silence.
6. Honor Your Strengths
What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List five of them – if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands?
Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you recognize your skills and use them to teach or share with others.
7. Serve Others
When you live authentically, you may find that you develop a sense of being connected with all forms of life. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you are expressing your spirit, your essence.
At the same time, you are able to connect with the essential good in others. At this point, serving others is no longer a chore.
We cannot change others. We can only ever change ourselves to live more peacefully and happily in the circumstances of our lives. That is why self development has such huge rewards both for ourselves and those around us. I hope these steps bring you closer to happiness
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