Are you struggling in your “pursuit of happiness?” If so, one simple adjustment can improve your experience, promote meaningful progress, and bring you far greater joy.
Our national study shows a troubling number of people experience daily anxiety, overwhelm, and concern for loved ones. Mental health is suffering. Real happiness seems elusive, and many are settling for escapes or resolving themselves to lives of discontent.
Happiness isn’t your right, nor is it the best objective for your life. So, I’d strongly suggest you flip the syntax in your personal declaration: Life, liberty, and the happiness of pursuit. When you own your agency then identify and strive toward a purposeful aim, you will experience happiness as a byproduct.
Brain science proves this out. We are most happy, or positively stimulated, as we approach our desired objectives. However, happiness and the release of dopamine actually fall off the instant you attain what you’re seeking. This means you should always be learning, growing, and progressing. Not the push of perfection, but the pull of positive expectations and an ever upward trajectory.
So own your inalienable rights. To life. Your one life, fully lived. To liberty, the freedom and agency to think, decide, and respond to your circumstances and opposition. And to the happiness of pursuit. Higher expectations, consistent effort, and steady progress towards the days and dreams ahead. In this way, happiness happens. Until next week, stay dry! And Off Balance On Purpose.