You ever wonder what makes people happy? Do you know what genuinely makes you happy? Do you know the roots of your happiness/unhappiness? It’s a question that we deal with at several points in our lives as we encounter a variety of obstacles. It’s usually most poignant when we’re down and out on our luck or when things aren’t going as willfully planned.

What do you do to overcome those moments of doubt? pessimism? cynicism? If that is your mood, I’ll tell you what you shouldn’t do. Don’t listen to yourself. As powerful as our minds are, we can easily allow that power to fuel our negative thoughts, eventually drowning in our own sorrows.  More often than not, our negative thoughts are a result of our ego’s not being satisfied based on social conditioning. Social conditioning could be things we are raised to believe we should have or done if we abide by a specific formula (if you do a + b then that will = c), so once that equation doesn’t add up we began to doubt everything around us. Reality check, we’re human, our paths aren’t as mathematically defined as we’d like to believe (see disclaimer below). We aren’t any exact thing during every moment. The beauty of being human is that we can feel and be things at any given moment.

So if you are indeed feeling down and out, listen to someone that thinks and feels contrary to you.  Sometimes it takes the fresh perspectives of others to rejuvenate the beliefs in ourselves. Vibes are contagious so be sure to seek out ones that you’re striving to be.

Be mindful of external influences. Having options isn’t always a good thing.  It is inherent in this modern culture to be exposed to an infinite, unnecessary amount of options and luxuries thru everyday marketing or constant exposure to others personal experiential testimonies on social media. Our desires somehow become convoluted and we can feel suffocated by time. If you feel overwhelmed by that, I’d recommend detaching yourself from those mediums otherwise prepare to indulge in inadequacy.

Learn about who you are. What does your ego desire? and what does your spirit desire? If you cant discern the difference, then that’s the first thing you need to know. If there were no electricity, who would you be? what would you want?

Last bit of advice, separate yourself from thinking about your life in the grand scheme of the universe. That existential shit will get you lost in the sauce. Once you value yourself in the context of the universe, you instantly feel depreciated. Instead value your worth and contributions based on the people that think the universe of you.

 

Disclaimer: the powers that be would like things to be able to calculate you by your desires and psychological patterns. Hence the study of Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Marketing, and Sheep Hearding 101. By them placing certain options(bait) out there, they’d like to determine our habits based on a more complex algorithm using information we blindly provide them i.e. credit card purchases, facebook/twitter posts, foursquare check in’s, GPS.