How to Become Happy Against All Odds
by You can become permanently happy. Your inner ego is the foundation of your personality. Look at the positive side of things, even the unpleasant ones. It’s your responsibility to change; the benefits are huge. Follow these three simple rules.
When one reaches the status of senior citizen – as I have – all that experience should be used for the common good, i.e. for those who still struggle to remain young. Let’s then talk about being happy even though you believe that is not possible.
Is there an acceptable definition of Happiness? The answer is a robust no; every individual will tell you that being happy is an emotional state that has to do with personal goals and experiences. We therefore cannot pretend to impose our criteria of happiness, bliss, felicity, pleasure, ecstasy, joy, rapture (sorry, so many synonyms!) on others. For example, in my case, just getting through a root canal this morning made me happy or gleeful if you prefer.
But we are not talking of temporary contentment; we want to go through life in a state of permanent happiness, even if circumstances at times are not particularly propitious. It is therefore imperative to apply the following 3 golden rules in order to reach our goal:
You Make Yourself Happy
This phrase may sound preposterous to many people. But just think of the implications hidden behind these ordinary words. First of all, the opposite is also true: You make yourself sad or unhappy. Nobody else can make you happy or unhappy.
When you and I go through a particularly unpleasant situation, we tend to feel anger, sadness, frustration and/or desperation. All this is perfectly normal; we are after all human beings and we are capable of exhibiting all these emotions. But once we have vented our feelings, we can go back to our permanent underlying state of contentment, which must permeate the inner ego at all times.
The external ego (or that part of the ego in contact with the real world) will handle the relation with other human beings according to its needs. But the internal ego, which could also be called the subconscious, is the foundations upon which your whole personality rests. If it wobbles, the entire building may come crashing down.
You are Responsible for Building a Solid and Happy Internal Ego
When I use the terms internal and external ego, I am really talking about the same psychological structure; part of it is seen by others every day and the other part is only sensed in the background. You of course can choose to “open up” so as to allow trusted others to perceive your weaknesses and strengths. But normally, in every day life, you will only show your public ego (face?) and most people will judge you superficially on that basis.
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