Happiness is a state of inner satisfaction that lasts for a long time and can be fostered by cultivating a joyful and optimistic attitude. These are some of the keys. For a very long time, I was unable to walk due to a serious accident that completely changed my life. During my convalescence, I missed things like walking, strolling, watching the sunset, listening to the sea breeze, and hanging out with friends and loved ones. When all that was over, my wish was to once again enjoy the small things, which are the big things in life.. InMostf the wonderful things in life are free: walking, feeling, sharing, loving, and being thankful. And I had lost all of that.
The problem with taking joy for granted
After that rough patch, when joy disappeared due to the physical pain I was suffering, I needed it and aspired to regain it, valuing it much more; life still seemed more beautiful to me. This is what I explain to my patients in my in-person and online consultations, and what I share with my readers in my new book, *Your Emotional Brain *. Harness Your Feelings and Transform Your Life (RBA Libros). The word joy comes from the Latin alacer, which means “lively.” It’s an emotion that gives us well-being and pleasure. experience joy when we achieve something that makes us feel good: it can be a social, emotional, material, or moral pleasure. We feel joy when we receive professional recognition, fall in love, have a child, eat something delicious, remember good times, etc The most absurd thing we do is what in psychology we call hedonic adaptation, which means that we start taking for granted something we already have, downplaying its importance.
Realizing that you only have one life
Only when you realize you only have one life can you fully live every present moment. When we internalize this wisdom, we can give due weight to the good things that give us pleasure and regain a sense of wonder, recognition, and appreciation.. That’s what happened to me when I started walking again after a year and a half. I cried with joy and was reborn, surprised by everything, just like children do. I began to cultivate my inner garden, just as Voltaire said. So I made a list of activities I wanted to do every day to cultivate joy.
Saying thank you was the first task on my list.
The first thing I put on my list was to be grateful for being able to walk and be alive. The miracle of life was repeated every day, with the awareness that without health, we are nothingGratitude filled me with joy, and every step I took brought back the surprise that children experience when they go from crawling to walking. According to research by Sonya Liubomirsky, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, learning to be grateful puts us in a good mood and allows us to live the present and the future with enthusiasm. Reestablishing this connection with gratitude for life’s small, great joys inspires us and allows us to feel fulfilled. I included many more activities on the list, which I carried out on the trip that changed my life and that of my patients. Learning to value the good things in life and actively cultivating joy is possible through habits that foster the development of this emotion. So, what are you waiting for to surprise yourself and cultivate inner joy? Do you want to know how to do it?
Cultivate yourself and enjoy the small pleasures..
The first step to cultivating joy is to cultivate yourself internally, to know what small things give you pleasure. Pleasure doesn’t bring happiness, but it makes life easier. Even if it doesn’t bring happiness, it allows us to feel better and gives us psychological and physical well-being. Happiness is a state of inner satisfaction, a feeling of peace, balance, and inner tranquility that lasts over time. And cultivating joy is your superpower for achieving this feeling of satisfaction every day. You can pursue a hobby, cook something you love, take a walk in nature, contemplate a landscape, reminisce about beautiful moments in your life, and so on. In the 3.0 society we live in, the Epicurean concept of happiness w, which defined it as a state of inner peace and serenity independent of material possessions, has been lost. Today, the search for happiness is through material things like technology, alcohol, instant sex on dating apps… These pleasures and joys are fleeting. Most of life’s wonders are simple. Simplicity is a mental attitude and gives us inner serenity.
