7 Keys to Happiness

7 Keys to Happiness

Why did I choose the number seven? I have been thinking of this question the whole day and I have finally reached to a consistent answer. This number seems to be the number of completeness. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. There are 7 days in a week. This number was mentioned countless times in the Holy Bible and the Qur'an. Accordingly, the number 7 refers to something "finished" or "complete". However, every one of us always seeks happiness, thus this article provides a complete guide that eases your journey towards happiness.

1- Be grateful

Always be grateful for what you have rather than being envious because you will never have what others have. God has created each one of us with a number of characteristics and potentials that differentiate him/her from others.Thus, the function of human beings is to work on these potentials in order to be distinguished in their own way. EVERYBODY IS GREAT.

Furthermore, to recognize the graces God bestowed us, look at others; namely, people who lack these graces, for example, people of special needs who might lack their senses, moving ability . . . etc. Always remember those people and remember all the graces and thank God.

2- Negatives-free heart and mind

To be honest, it needs a lot of effort and time in order to get rid of the negative thoughts because it requires monitoring them. In simpler words, a person must be conscious about his/her thoughts. Whenever a negative thought is detected, it has to be substituted with a positive one. Doing this step repeatedly will remove a huge obstacle from your way towards happiness.

3- Stop Judging Others

You will never understand why people behave in certain way unless you put yourself in their shoes and here comes to my mind Atticus' advice to his son in the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird,"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (3, 85) Moreover, people are different so do not expect everybody to act the way you do.

4- Live the Moment

I will sum up this section by a stanza from An Auspicious Day poem:

                                                    What is past is left behind.

                                                  The future is as yet unreached. 

                                                   Whatever quality is present 

                                                    you clearly see right there,

                                                               right there.

5- Love Yourself

Be satisfied with who you are; your image and your personality. Love yourself because you are different. Love yourself because there is nobody has a similar smile to yours. Love yourself to be loved. Whenever you love  yourself, your view to yourself becomes better; your confidence increases which will reflect positively on your happiness level.

6- Smile

"Smile, it's free therapy" Douglas Horton. The Internet is loaded with researches that prove that smiling is a way to reduce stress and negativity so "smile, it's free therapy"!  Here is a tip to trick your mind I use over and over when I feel down, i close my eyes for two minutes and smile and convince myself that I am happy and since our brain cannot differentiate between illusion and reality, it is convinced that I am happy and it reflects back by sending happiness hormones to my body. This way I become happier always. 

Additionally, smiling protects you from aging. Dr Ibrahim elfiky says, "it takes [only] 10 muscles to smile but it takes 100 to frown".

SMILE, IT IS WORTH IT.

7- No Drama

Be realistic and do not live in the world of fairy tales.

It is the time to seek happiness, isn't it?

If you like this article, please share it with your friends

Any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below.