Are Happiness and Gratitude Difficult to Reach
Most people aspire to some emotional goals which are the real pay off for all our efforts. It is made to seem that happiness and gratitude are difficult to obtain on a regular basis. It is almost cultural that achievement and material accumulation are necessities.
The truth is that both are attainable without achievement and material accumulation. What most people don’t realize is that Nature has established what makes us happy and accumulation is not what she is looking for. It is also a fact that gratitude does not have to be earned.
Nature Has Designed What Make Us Happy
Regardless of what we think makes us happy, Nature has established the hormones and neurotransmitters that stimulate the feelings of happiness. They are mainly dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. They reward us for the right behaviors that Nature thinks are necessary for survival and perpetuation of a stronger more adaptable species. That’s it.
If you learn and follow the behaviors, happiness is yours. On the other hand, gratitude is not necessarily the result of necessary behaviors or hormones or neurotransmitters. You can have gratitude every day by thinking of it. Having gratitude every day can be from forming the habit of thinking about it.
The Right Behaviors Lead to the Desired Feelings
The happiness behaviors can include learning, creativity, caring, protecting, socializing, collaborating, healthy living, exercising, and contributing. Can you see how each of these behaviors might make us more likely to survive and thrive. That’s what Nature wants for us and she did design our brain.
Arthur Maslow said self-actualization is at the top of his survival pyramid. This perfectly suits what Nature has in mind. As we get better and improve who we are, we get supporting hormones and neurotransmitters to sustain the behaviors and make them so desirable we want to come back. Without Nature’s design, we would not get hungry, desire sex, desire community, be caring, want to protect, or want to improve ourselves.
Our Drives Determine the Path We Are Often Supposed to Follow
Nature gives us the drive for each and the reward for engaging. Positive behaviors earn dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. We are driven to engage and repeat. If you keep learning, you will continue to get happiness perks. What people who live for achieving or accumulating a specific goal don’t realize is that happiness can end at that point unless the behaviors are continued. That’s why so many self-destruct after big milestones.
Gratitude can start with daily recitations of what makes life worthwhile to you. Gratitude can be a habit rather than occasional thought. As you give thanks for the gifts of life and your circumstances, you will start noticing you find more things in a day to be happy about.
Happiness and gratitude make people more generous, empathetic, creative, ambitious, productive, and optimistic. You can design happiness and gratitude into your life without having to wait for some life defining achievements. Improve every day. Be thankful everyday. Its as simple as that.
If you want to go into greater depth, purchase my books Happiness and Gratitude on Amazon. $2.99 for E books and $6.95 for paperback.
