Most of us are stressed and unhappy with the stressors and challenges around us. The pandemic has brought a few realities home:

• The average life expectancy has reduced.
• Our health and well-being are our most precious assets.
• Nothing in life is predictable.
• So, what we have right NOW is the most important time in our lives.
• Hence, it’s the time to be happy, feel contented and blessed.

The Dilemma of Unending Wants, Needs, Desires…

The dilemma of life is that we want a lot of things in life to be able to thrive and progress: a stable income, business, assets, a nice home to live in, vacations, great clothes, fine food, etc.

As a result, we are always running, always in the pursuit of a goal, an ideal, the need to create a perfect future.

Come to think of it, isn’t happiness the main motive behind our every want, need, desire and pursuit? Yet, we make it an elusive goal due to our constant expectations and wants.

 It so happens that when we achieve something, we feel happy for a little while. However, we immediately start pursuing the next goal in our list. We continue replacing one want and desire with another and then another. Consequentially, we never feel truly, contented and satisfied with whatever we have at the moment, whatever we have been able to acquire.

In reality, we need very little and very basic in life in order to be happy.

True happiness lies in the here and now, rather than something in the remote future. It is not something conditional to the fulfillment of our needs, wants and desires.

This means that we need:

• Financial security rather than fancy job titles and huge paychecks.
• Happy children, with wholesome minds and souls, rather than their high grades and GPAs.
• A wholesome, healthy body, rather than an ideal number on the weight scale.

Don’t get me wrong! There is nothing wrong with manifesting your goals, desires and dreams. But don’t forget to enjoy what you already have, rather than becoming enslaved to your goals and desires.

So if you want to be happier right now, here is what you need to do:

Adjust Your Expectations from Life, Others and from Yourself

We appear to have a sense of entitlement which makes us automatically feel entitled to the best of things, the best from people, the best from life. We think that we are good, so we naturally deserve the best, we deserve to be reciprocated by the Universe. Well the Universe doesn’t work this way.

When these expectations and needs are not met, we feel automatically disappointed, let down and taken advantage of by others. What we need to understand is that no one owes us nothing. The universe and life are also pragmatic, they owe us nothing. Hence, when you start letting go of your expectations, lowering the level of your needs, you start learning to be self-reliant. Then everything and everyone good coming your way would feel like an unexpected surprise, a blessing!

Pare Down Your Lists

The malaise of a living in a capitalistic society and age is the constant need and desire of things. We keep buying, adding things to our shopping lists, marking our favorites on shopping portals. We are stuck in a perpetual want/desire and shopping cycle. It keeps us dissatisfied. So, let’s start paring down our lists. Start removing the items from your wishlists, bucket lists. Instead, take an inventory of everything you already own, everything you have achieved so far.

• Firstly, thank the Universe for helping you acquire all that!
• Then thank yourself for making all that happen.
• Make a resolve to observe a “no buy” month after every three months.
• Pledge to enjoy what you already have.

Relax, Breathe and Enjoy

Life’s beauty lies in the present moment, the seemingly small things. When you start connecting the dots, these seemingly moments and small things, life instantaneously suddenly starts looking fuller, magical and beautiful.

In a life full of tragedies and the unpredictable, cherish the here and now, the smaller things. Lower your expectations from others, from life itself. Be happy and thankful about what you already have. Because these seemingly small things and moments would make life bearable and even enjoyable. Ultimately, these moments and small things will become your treasured possessions and your precious memories.

The Take Aways

The motive behind all our pursuits is acquiring happiness and joy. Yet due to our unrealistic goals, desires, expectations and the stressors in our environments, happiness keeps evading us. Hence, we need to realize the need to simplify our lives and live in and enjoy the current moment.