Happiness over the course of your life is something that emerges day by day. Yet most people view happiness as a destination in the future. They will enjoy life when they are making more money, move to a new city, get a promotion, or lose some weight. But this idea of eventually reaching happiness is a trap that will leave you endlessly dissatisfied.
The landmarks and external situation that you believe will make you happy can do nothing more for you than give you momentary enjoyment. Eventually, you will get used to it, your expectations will rise, and you will be satisfied once again. Consistent happiness is not something that is caused by external situations.
There is a common expression that your happiness is equal to reality minus your expectations. So we can fight and fight to change reality or we can decide to be happy with the circumstances that we have in front of us today.
Being happy with what we have does not mean settling, or giving up on trying to make things better, it simply means appreciating where we stand and enjoying the steps forward that we are taking without fixating on what we lack.
By this process of day by day enjoyment, of getting satisfaction from the present moment, is the only area of focus that can lead us to a consistent sense of happiness in the long-term.
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