Choosing Your Happiness

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. The purpose of our lives is to be happy." 
So the purpose of our life is to create our own happiness. At least according to Dalai Lama.

I recently read an article online that divided happiness into two types: stimulation and fulfillment.

Stimulation is the happiness we experience in momentary moments such as eating a slice of a darn good pizza, socializing with close friends, dancing to your favorite song, etc. Once the stimulus goes away, the happiness eventually fades as well.

The other type of happiness is fulfillment. This is associated with feelings of achievement and selflessness. We tend to feel this type of happiness when the end result of our actions is achieving something great. Fulfillment is harder to gain, but it is more self-sustaining.

We should be able to experience both types of happiness but in the long run, we may have to choose one over the other; and many of us tend to make choices that leave us feeling empty.

Many of us live such busy lives with only a fraction of time to spare outside of work and in these moments, we choose the easy type of happiness. After a long day of work, we decide to rest in bed with Netflix by our side or meet a few friends for drinks. Very quickly, we are able to find a state of bliss. Yet as the days and months go by, we find ourself asking "What the hell are you doing with your life?" Joe Elvin explains that this stems from a lack of fulfillment. Gaining a sense of fulfillment requires us to face a lot of pain, willpower, and faith. However, living in a generation where we can gain access to anything instantaneously, we give in to the idea of instant gratification too often.

Fulfillment doesn't come easy, and in the end, all the effort may not even be worth it. Many people who live a fulfilling life style, are rarely recognized or rewarded yet, they still work painstakingly hard. These people have a reason for being alive, they are contributors to a better world and see that there is more to life than just satisfying themselves.

It was a really thought-provoking article and a topic that's been on my mind lately. Going off on this happiness theme, I also recently watched a film titled "Hector and the Search for Happiness." This novel turned film was comedic and inspiring. Despite the horrible reviews it's received, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and was one of those movies that made me tear up in the happy parts.

Note to self & others: Don't let your often mundane reality lead you to believe that achieving fulfillment is an impossible feat. Open your eyes and overcome the odds!

last post of 2014

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going

-James Ryun

2014 has been a crazy year but I am so ready for 2015. Let's hustle///

new york

Saw this book at a bookstore and laughed because I basically came to NYC to eat everything here. 

I still have two more days here but wanted to reflect on my trip so far because I feel like I've done so much the past few days I've been here. 

New York has been amazing and the city is just flowing with creativity and unique sightings that make NYC so special. There's always room for innovation in NYC and I realized that people don't have to worry about being anyone but themselves. During my short stay here I was able to see that once we stop judging others and start to see the beauty in our differences, life in general seems to be more beautiful - and a lot easier. No one does Christmas better in the U.S. than New York. When we arrived I saw crowds of people everywhere wearing santa suits and our taxi driver said by Christmas, we would only be able to see Santa Clauses walking around the streets. There are obviously a few things that I just don't like about New York that makes me never want to really live here (at least permanently). When you walk through the busier/tourist streets, it's so crowded that people are shoulder to shoulder with each other pushing and shoving + true to the rumors, most people here (minus the few genuine kind people i've met) are straight up rude. 

We were lucky enough to do and see a lot of things but a few memorable places were:

+ Bryant Park: Went to winter village to see the small shops. We wanted to go ice skating here as well but the line was just too ridiculous we decided it wasn't worth the wait.

+ Lombardi's Pizzeria: Walked around Chinatown & Little Italy. After walking the Brooklyn Bridge we went to Lombardi's. They claim to be the first pizzeria that ever opened in America and it was some pretty dang good pizza!

+Central Park: Central park was so relaxing despite the fact that I was freezing. It was amazing that there was such a beautiful park amidst the bustling city. 

+Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock: Rockefeller Plaza was just too ridiculous, the whole place was packed with tourists everywhere we were unable to move or get away from the crowds. Everyone looked so annoyed and unhappy as we all suffered. We walked through the crowds to go buy tickets for Top of The Rock which i've heard was better and cheaper than the ESB. 

You can see our apt from here!

+Union Square: We went to Union Square to check out the holiday markets and there were a lot of cool vendors and we were able to do some successful holiday shopping here. The hot apple cider here was really yummy!

 

 This trip has been amazing so far and i'm dreading the trip home where I'll be going back to work and school. In the end, a very much needed vacation away from home. Feeling very blessed & thankful for these experiences.