Everyone is blessed but not everyone is truly happy. Then again, not everyone recognizes his or her blessings, and a great many people are happier than they realize. This confusion occurs because many of us don’t understand what true happiness is.

Pleasure Does Not Bring True Happiness

Everyone wants to be happy, and who doesn’t want to be blessed? This desire and need are part of our nature. However, many people view pleasure as a blessing and use it as a means to be happy. They soon discover they’ve been deceived. The pleasure induced bliss they thought would last quickly fades and turns into feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction.  

Euphoria from pleasure is not true happiness. It’s a physiological reaction – a release of neurochemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, and endocannabinoids that enhance feelings of elation and connection. The intense high from this reaction is temporary, and is soon followed by an equal or greater low. This dispirited feeling initiates the desire for more pleasure, and results in an emotional cycle of ups and downs which creates the habit of pleasure seeking. 

Happiness is More Than a Feeling 

True happiness is more than a feeling. It’s a state of mind created by one’s thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that give rise to feelings of joy and delight. Therefore, truly happy people create their happiness and don’t depend on external stimuli or circumstances. Moreover, genuine happiness does not come from one source, and it isn’t confined to one thought, belief, or feeling.       

True happiness is a composition of six separate but interconnected elements. Therefore, you have multiple ways to be happy and you can have various levels of happiness. Unlike the intense highs and lows you get from pleasure, when you are truly happy, you have a steady flow of love, joy, peace, satisfaction, freedom, and contentment – the six elements of happiness. In addition, you choose the ones you want. 

We might consider the six elements of happiness as blessings, but blessings go beyond what we notice. They can be overt or covert, big or small. Sometimes they are realized quickly and other times they are disguised as curses. Despite their appearance, they can only be legitimized within the sanctity of God, and received with gratitude and grace. It is then that they create the true happiness we all desire.

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Read my posts and tips to discover more ways of finding immeasurable blessings and the key to being truly happy.

Be happy and…  Blessed be you,