The keys to Happiness
In the modern hustle and bustle of life of the 21st century one often comes to the point of asking am I happy? Do I enjoy Life? Or is it even worth my living a life? People stream to spiritual healing, exercising, dieting, or practicing any other restrictions that ultimately become a set of “commandments” which are eventually laid down again after a person’s sojourn with them. Happiness is all about healing, knowing oneself and more so developing a sense of rejuvenation and confidence. It is the point of achieving ultimate nirvana with the self and one’s identity. This attainment of nirvana can be attained through self-confidence, self-realization and self-acceptance.
Self-realization is one of the first few steps to happiness. To illustrate lets take an example.
It was under the Bodh Gaya tree two thousand years ago that while meditating for several days continuously Gautam Buddha attained nirvana and realized that life is suffering. He realized that all material reality is the cause of suffering. Buddha’s view is just one of the common perception, but however to denunciate life and become an ascetic cannot be a modern man’s choice, can it? So how does one realize oneself?
One’s actual potential in terms of dreams, career interest, wealth, academic achievement, etc. is the key element that comes into play of self-realization. It clearly demarcates ones own standard of what he or she is capable. If one pursues a goal too high for his personality capacity to achieve one suffers anxiety or stress. This is particularly is relevant in academic achievement where many parents undermine their child’s realistic expectations and force him to choose a subject. Thus achievement of goals in tandem with one’s potential brings about less stress and anxiety. Realizing one’s goal and setting it in priority to his personality is one of the keys in achieving self-realization.
Moreover its ones keen sense of being expressive socially, artistically, through activities, hobbies, etc. that one is on the path to self realization. Going on a trip or a trek, painting, reading or any other hobby is an important key to self-realization. Thus the more outgoing one is the more he is able to realizing his true nature.
After one’s realization of potential it becomes easier for one to gain self-acceptance. Self-acceptance is the uniqueness that one inherits. There are individual differences and each individual is different from the other in matters of intelligence, aptitude, motivation and interests. After realizing one’s potential an individual gains an edge by now accepting himself as he is. Individuals are rated in all types of shapes and sizes- ugly-beautiful, smart-dumb, fat-slim, etc. But a person should not give heed to these “tags” as they only achieve prejudice and seek to downgrade an individual’s self-esteem. Failure to accept one’s own self often leads to a sense of inferiority complex. If one is short in height he is because he genetically inherits this characteristic not because people tend to understate being small as a weakness.
Thirdly self-confidence paves the way to achieving complete happiness. It is the last step in gaining harmony between the self and identity. Self-confidence is more precisely a synonym of happiness-one step behind. If one knows the goals that he wants to achieve, and attains those goals within his personality potential than a person gains a sense of efficiency in his work and relationships, as he is free from stress and anxiety.
Therefore self-confidence, self-realization and self-acceptance are the three keys to happiness that harmonizes the relations between self and identity, which finally leads one to achieving nirvana.
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