A lot of people have asked me this question and I respond back by asking them several questions and I wait for their response and that ends up being my answer. In other words, I ask them “Can you see? Can you hear? Can you walk? Do you have your health? Do you have your family?” If the response is “yes” to all or most of these questions, then I tell them they have everything to be happy.
I think what happens to us is that we don’t stop for a moment to reflect on all the beautiful things that we have and we are not grateful for having the basic things in life. We tend to be unhappy for the things we don’t have. We live for the future and not the present. We sometimes live for others in order to appear as something that we are not instead of being who we really are. We forget what really matters. No wonder we live feeling so unhappy! We can’t live like this. We can’t progress as people in this state. We can’t give others happiness because we don’t have happiness within us.
Part of having happiness is being grateful for the basic things in life and for the things that perhaps we view as not as important as well. When we learn to be grateful for what we have, something inside of us changes. It’s as if a light was lit in a dark room, we learn to view our life in a different way. Being grateful for the small things attracts bigger and better things into our lives. This doesn’t mean that you won’t have difficult times nor disappointments. However, the positive things will weigh more than the negative things.
“What is it that makes you happy?” Well, this is my answer to this question because in reality what makes us happy are the things that are free, they don’t have a price. The things that really matter don’t come from the material stuff. I think that when we learn that it is the basic things that makes us happy, our life takes a 180 degrees turn. Remember, if you can walk, if you can see, if you can hear, if you have your health and your family, you have everything!