Are you happy with who you are? Maybe not! Happiness is something we strive to embrace everyday in our life. While nobody is always happy or ecstatic, it cannot be denied that for some people, life is more rewarding or more fulfilling than others. Regardless of how we look or feel, what we fail to acknowledge is that this happiness is locked somewhere within us. We associate happiness with materialistic needs like achievements, looks, fitness or success but at the end of the day, it only boils down to our outlook on life.
Want to overcome all those barriers standing between you and ever-lasting happiness? Read on to iron out all the wrinkles on your path and crack the code to becoming a happier you.
Stop comparing yourself with others. Don’t allow those toxic thoughts to find their way into your head. Shut that negative voice telling you that are inferior or superior to others because you are not. There will always be someone prettier or uglier than you. There will always be others with more or less money than you. What’s the point of comparison then?
As children, when our parents want to find out how much taller we have grown; they always use our previous measurement to determine how much we have grown. They never compare us to our friends. That’s because you are your only comparison. The beauty is in becoming better than your former self, not better than others.
One of the most important aspects of being happy with what you are is neither having your head in the cloud, nor sticking it in the ground. Superiority and inferiority are both equally damaging extremes of a spectrum. While superiority thrusts you into a world of false hope where overconfidence is ready to pull the rug from under your feet, inferiority pushes all hope over the cliff.
Inferiority is also dangerous because it not only pushes your spirit and confidence down on its knees, it keeps you from acknowledging your accomplishments and when you look in the mirror, you always see a good-for-nothing loser staring back at you.
Social comparison is not healthy. When left untreated, social comparison can drain an individual of all energy and hope. Realize that comparison only leads to feelings like resentment and self-pity. Keep reminding yourself that you are what you were supposed to be. Even if you want to compare, compare with your former self to determine how much you have grown as an individual. Think of all the things you have done in your life and determine if there’s some way you can change your life for the better.
Bottom-line, love yourself, live life to the fullest and treat yourself against the contagious disease of comparison.
© Copyright 2013 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
