Tips to Have a Day Full of Motivation and Joy
When we were little, everything seemed to be much easier, more fun, and full of joy. Nevertheless, as we grow, our path through life makes us forget our dreams.
With time, we program ourselves to fall into the vicious cycle of comfort.
In this way, we make ourselves slaves to routine. We lose that vision for ourselves that it’s important to live a life full of happiness and satisfaction.
However, each one of us has the power to determine our own state of being and the path our life takes.
Our mood determines the path of our life. You decide in what state you are in; you are the captain of your own happiness.
Alfredo Culebro
Happiness, joy, and motivation
Matthieu Ricard, the happiest man in the world, defines ” happiness as a deep sensation of serenity and fullness.”
Ricard states that any person can find true happiness. This is found through wisdom, altruism, compassion, and by putting aside mental toxins. This refers to hate, greediness, and ignorance.
In the same way, the Dalai Lama in “The Book of Happiness”, claims that human beings themselves create the conditions that undermine joy and happiness. This is due to negative tendencies of the mind, emotional reactions, or the incapacity to appreciate and use internal resources.
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On the other hand, just like humans have the power to cause their own suffering, they also have the capacity to generate joy.
According to the Dalai Lama, the key to happiness is found inside. It includes attitudes and reactions that we take and apply in daily life.
Likewise, a fundamental element to reach our goal to be happy, is motivation.
Ricard, as mentioned before, maintains that humans have the ability to influence themselves to feel happiness, joy and contentment when they desire it.
However, if our objective is altruistic and sincere, it will be much more probable that we will enjoy each day with passion. Besides, this is contagious to other people.
What should we do to be happier?
Michael Fordyce was one of the pioneer of positive psychology; the methods and activities that have the objective of cultivating feelings, actions, and positive cognition.
He was the creator of the program called “14 Basic principles of happiness”.
This program has as an objective for people to carry out what the principle characteristics of happy people do. They can also do this.
The 14 conditions are the following.
• To be more active and stay busy
• Socialize more
• Be productive in some significant job
• Be organized and plan ahead
• Avoid worry
• Decrease expectations and aspirations
• Develop optimistic and positive thoughts
• Live in the present
• Work on a healthy personality
• Develop an extroverted and sociable personality
• Be yourself
• Eliminate negative feelings and problems
• Close relationships are the number one resources for happiness
• Value happiness
Besides the principles of the program, there are other important aspects that you should take into account.
You should take into consideration that the cause of apathy could be due to illness, thyroid problems, stress, chemical or psychological disorders, medication or even menopause.
Likewise, dedicating time to physical activity is indispensable. The effects of exercise on the body are infinite. Because of this, caring for our body is one of the keys to living with joy and motivation.
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Avoid envy
Jealousy takes place when too much emphasis is placed on materialism. As a result, it’s impossible to be at mentally at peace. In fact, the effect of envy corrodes any type of relationship. It is destruction mentally and physically.
Because of this, it’s important to cultivate emotions that produce joy and mental tranquility. Examples are knowledge and experiences. This way our focus is directed toward our true values.
Enjoy positive emotions
All emotions have a positive function, since they allow us to know ourselves.
Nevertheless, positive emotions like forgiveness, hope, generosity, and gratitude help to neutralize the negative ones. They not only cause pleasure, but they improve our personal, intellectual, physical, psychological and social capacities.
Accepting painful experiences
Negative emotions are always inevitable in life, since we experience loss, mistakes, and failures.
However, happiness is not the absence of suffering, but it depends on the balance of positive and negative emotions.
Accepting painful experiences strengthens self-control and psychological flexibility. This will help us to continue to grow in spite of tragedies.
In conclusion, attaining joy and motivation that brings us happiness requires willpower, fortitude, and work. But living with joy means living more and just for that reason it is worth working on.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Autocuidado, S. D. E. L. (n.d.). Decálogo para vivir más, mejor y más feliz.
- Los secretos y las claves de Matthieu Ricard, “el hombre más feliz del mundo” – Infobae. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2019, from https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2018/09/29/los-secretos-y-las-claves-de-matthieu-ricard-el-hombre-mas-feliz-del-mundo/
- El arma secreta del Dalai Lama para ser feliz y cómo puedes usarla en tu vida | CNN. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2019, from https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2017/02/07/el-arma-secreta-del-dalai-lama-para-ser-feliz-y-como-puedes-usarla-en-tu-vida/
