Saeed Ahmadi
Table of Contents
Close your eyes for a minute, take a deep breath, and ask yourself: what is the most significant purpose of life? Is it money? Success? or happiness? Undoubtedly, the answer is happiness and fulfillment.
But do you think every wealthy and successful person should be happy? No, Not all successful people are happy; on the other hand, there is no happy person who has not achieved, in some sense, success. People seek the good, and there is nothing better than happiness. In other words: success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.
First of all, we should ask ourselves:
What is happiness?
There are many definitions of happiness, and probably many of them have a “part” of truth. However, for the case that we see and from a psychological perspective, happiness would be equivalent to the frequent experience of positive experiences or emotions.
Happiness is a complex emotional state that has many facets and is frequently defined differently by different fields and groups of people.
From a mental standpoint, happiness is typically regarded as the widespread enjoyment of positive emotions or as a widespread sense of well-being.
In this sense, happiness isn’t always a rigid or static state, but rather a dynamic and growing society that is distinguished by the prevalence of positive emotion.
Characters that are considered to be content frequently display admirable qualities and behaviors. They frequently exude confidence in themselves, have a positive attitude toward life, and are generally upbeat.
Self-sufficient and capable of finding joy and fulfillment inside themselves, happy people are frequently self-sufficient.
They frequently have pleasant contact with others and are cheerful and gregarious. Additionally, they frequently exhibit overly zealous power phases and a zest for life.
It is essential to realize that happiness is a subjective and personal experience and what brings happiness to one character may not always apply to another.
Additionally, happiness can be driven by many factors, such as personal circumstances, lifestyle events, relationships, and personal state of mind.
Ultimately, happiness is an area that many people strive to achieve and maintain, as it is often associated with a satisfying and enjoyable lifestyle.
Therefore, the happy person often experiences a state of emotional well-being (“positive affect”). A person who enjoys happiness could be characterized by having confidence in himself, by being optimistic, self-sufficient, friendly, social, energetic, etc.
Read more: Why Mindset Is Everything
This definition from the Sadhguru youtube channel is also very interesting:
What is success?
Being successful in life means achieving the society and culture in which you live values.
Success can lead to happiness, but one can also be unhappy, even though he is successful in some facet of his life. However, there are indications that happiness, understood as the experience of positive emotions, engenders success.
Success is a complicated and subjective concept that changes from person to person and lifestyle to lifestyle.
It is the fulfillment of wants and aspirations that are compatible with the values and conventions of the society and way of life in which a man or woman lives.
In essence, fulfillment is the achievement of expectations and benchmarks set by using one’s network or the larger world.
It is an acknowledgment of one’s ability to thrive within a specific framework, whether or not that framework is related to professional accomplishments, personal relationships, financial security, or another aspect of life.
In spite of the fact that happiness can indeed be a result of success, it’s important to understand that happiness cannot necessarily be attained through success.
A person could experience great success in one area of their life, like their work, yet still feel dissatisfied in other spheres of their life.
The complexity and diversity of human happiness are highlighted by this.
True happiness is a strong sense of well-being, uplifting emotions, and satisfaction with one’s life as a whole rather than being simply dependent on achievements on the outside.
The association between prosperity and happiness is also becoming more and more clear, according to the available research.
According to research, those who experience positive feelings like contentment and joy are more likely to be flexible, inventive, and resilient.
Achieving satisfaction in several facets of life may be aided by this emotional well-being.
People are more likely to be motivated, resourceful, and able to take on difficulties when they are satisfied, which can lead to even more fulfillment.
How to identify happiness and success?
Being happy means enjoying life while doing your best. Accept who you are as a human being and the lifestyle you desire. While success can be defined as that moment in which you manage to meet the goals that you set for yourself and obtain the results proposed in the past.
But sometimes we make mistakes in life, or we don’t know what we want. For this reason, we believe that we will not be able to achieve the success that we long for, thinking that we will not be happy until we reach our goals. However, happiness is still simply a path.
Often, this can happens when we set different purposes. If we do not achieve them all, we do not consider ourselves successful. We return happiness to the side of an ideal of success that is difficult to achieve, so we doom ourselves almost to permanent unhappiness.
Finally, let us not forget that having a planned life with a lot of success and happiness can help, even in the worst moments, we have a map to guide and encourage us.
Like everything else in life, this also has its negative side: focusing our attention on one or more points can prevent us from taking advantage of the small opportunities that appear along the way.
Read more: Steps to change habits permanently
These opportunities can be called tiny happiness in small moments.
Happiness and success, together or apart?
You may be happy, but you don’t consider yourself successful. However, this does not mean that you should be depressed about it since it is likely that you are successful.
You have not realized it because your concept of success may be wrong or very difficult to achieve.
Maybe you already are a successful person; you have that great job that many people would like to have, you have that family that so many long for, that house that so many envies, that relationship that not everyone is fortunate enough to find, but perhaps you do not feel happy.
So Yes, in one way or another, you are already successful by just being happy and having what you already have in your life. You only haven’t realized it. You live under the wrong premise of what it is to be happy and successful.
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Finally, remember that it is always helpful to analyze things accurately in your life and realize what you have and have achieved. You will find that you are more successful and happier than you think.
Stop immersing yourself in those perfectionist and unattainable goals, see what you have and be grateful for all this and for what you can continue to achieve with effort and perseverance.
I found this video from Master Sri Akarshana youtube channel and I believe that it is absolutely interesting:
Why are happy people more successful?
«The good life, as I understand it, is the happy life. I don’t mean that if you are good, you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy, you will be good.»
- Bertrand Russell
Feeling positive emotions means that life is going well, that there are no serious problems that need our attention, so we can dedicate that absence to building and expanding our relationships and resources.
Based on numerous experimental psychology studies conducted by universities and other government centers, we can observe people who consider themselves happy and unhappy in different areas of their lives.
As we have already pointed out, being successful means fulfilling or achieving those things valued by a culture or society. Three essential and necessary areas in which the person wants to be successful are work, personal relationships, and health.
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Let’s dive into these three important areas:
1. Work
People spend a big part of their time at work. Employment is essential and necessary insofar as it generates income, creates opportunities, produces goods and services for society, and influences self-esteem. It is clear then that our community values the job sphere.
In general, studies have shown that happy employees have advantages over their less “positive” colleagues. These are some of the results of more experimental evidence:
- Individuals with a high level of well-being or happiness are more likely to pass job interviews and be evaluated positively.
- These people are often less likely to exhibit counterproductive work behavior or burnout.
- Happy people are generally more satisfied with their jobs. They tend to show fewer signs of job fatigue and less absenteeism from their jobs.
- Those employees who are more willing to be happy tend to receive better and more emotional assistance from their colleagues and supervisors.
- Service departments that have leaders with high levels of attitude and positive emotions receive greater customer satisfaction.
- In general, studies show a clear correlation between the work environment and productivity and profitability of corporations.
2. Social relations
Man is a social being, a political being. As Aristotle said, the social sphere is a fundamental factor for human beings’ survival and well-being.
We need to come together to face dangers, get more variety and quantity of supplies, and feel better.
Friendship, for example, is one of the leading indicators for an individual to consider himself happy.
Do happy people have a better social life than people with less well-being?
- Some studies in the United States showed that the 10% of the happiest students who finished their pre-university studies had higher quality social relationships than the rest.
- Happy people also feel more satisfied with their relationships and social activities than those who are not.
- It also turned out that people more enthusiastic about positive emotions also tend to have more good intimate relationships.
3. Health
Lastly, with regard to the domain of health, both mental and physical, despite the correlations between psychological and physical well-being, the evidence from the studies carried out is not as direct as in the two previous areas.
However, the results showed that those who considered themselves happy recognized they had better health and less discomfort than those who did not.
In medicine, it has been observed that emotional well-being is closely related to cancer patients’ quality of life during their illness. Similarly, correlations between happiness and recovery have been detected in other pathologies.
The conclusion of this article, in short, would be that people who experience emotions and a positive attitude, that is, happy people, tend to deal with everyday life situations more efficiently.
And above all, they tend to be more successful, either because of their greater adaptability, better sociability, or simply because of their attitude.
«Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.»
Also, if you are into podcats then Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D happiness podcast help you a lot:
The purpose is simple, enjoy life and try to achieve more goals, but don’t forget success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Don’t you agree??
