If you can find happiness in small things-you would have learned the arguably the most important skill in life. It is funny and tragic how hard we as human beings have made it for ourselves to be happy. We need a million things to be happy and we wait till the day we have those million things and the list never comes to an end, but our life does.

We don’t look for happiness where it exists and we just take it for granted. The first rule to be happy is to be conscious of how fortunate we are to be born as a human being and stop feeling sorry about ourselves.

Yes, you and I need a house, a bigger house and a better house, but a house wouldn’t solve all the problems of your life and make you supremely happier.

Yes, you need a car but things can only give you so much happiness since the happiness that things buy is fleeting and doesn’t last beyond a few days.

If you keep waiting to be happy till the day when you have that big house and a big car, you would have wasted a significant part of your life, just being unhappy and spreading unhappiness.

While you work hard to build the materialistic possessions that you want to buy, here is a list of things that should contribute to your happiness on an everyday basis. Like they say, for everything else, there is MasterCard.

1. You are alive– that’s a reason to be happy

Just look up any list about the people who have lost their lives this year. At the time of writing this article, there are 165,148 deaths in US alone because of coronavirus as per CDC.

A lot of these people were young and had their entire lives in front of them. Even besides the virus, 100’s of people who shouldn’t have died so early in their lives have died.

You are alive. Can’t you read this? You and I have a chance at life. We are fucking fortunate.

You did not earn life. It happened to you because your parents had sex. It was given to you because of a biological match between sticky liquids of your parents.

Now, can you can feel happy because you are alive?

2. You are educated

Education is a privilege in this world, especially formal education. I belong to India, where still large swathes of population are uneducated. If you have had access to good quality education, which has enabled you to be in a position to access self-education and learning for the rest of your life, you are bloody fortunate.

Please allow yourself to feel happy about it.

3. Family is a reason to find happiness in small things

Unfortunately, we are a ‘things’ driven society. We spoil relationships over material things. People who love you do not have a price tag. Your parents, your partner, your siblings and your friends are priceless. They are more important than anything money can buy.

If you have people in your life who care for you, it’s no small thing. Please feel happy about them.

4. Doing something you enjoy

I love sipping a cup of tea while thinking about the world. It’s one of my small guilty pleasures and I love it. I am almost addicted to tea and it makes me happy. It slows time down.

I am sure you do something which may seem small, but it makes you happy. Do that.

5. Passion is free

Most people do not know what they are passionate about. It takes effort and self-awareness to figure it out. If you know what you are passionate about, you are one of the most fortunate people on the planet.

Do what you are passionate about, even if you are not paid for it, in the beginning. At some point, they may start paying you for it.

I am passionate about writing, stand-up comedy (which I can’t do right now), running (I run every day), meeting intelligent people who can teach me something.

You are free to feel happy about what fires you up.

6. Early mornings

Early mornings are probably the most beautiful time of the day. If you can organise your life in a manner so you can wake up early morning, and watch the sun rise, your days will start on a beautiful note.

This habit is known as the habit of some of the world’s top achievers. Robin Sharma, the bestselling author of The Monk who sold his Ferrari has in fact, written another about starting your days early. Do check it out. He is a great guy.

7. Sound sleep

Sleep is one of the greatest pleasures of life. There are hundreds of people who don’t sleep properly. If you are lucky to get 7-8 hours of sound and peaceful sleep, it will make you feel excited about the new days.

Why, do feel happy about it.

8. Health is wealth

Food, exercise and sleep are the three important foundations of health. Would you give away a finger for a million dollars? I won’t. Take care of your health and if you are disease free, feel grateful and happy about the health you enjoy.

This is an indicative list which may apply to millions of people. However, you may have your own list of seemingly little things that make you happy. No matter how silly those things may seem to other people, do take the time to indulge in them. We have far too many people complaining about life 24 hours when even in one of the worst years in the history of humanity, there is much to feel joyful about.

For example, a lot of people collect postage stamps, and I have never seen any productive use of that habit. However, I have no right to question the fact that it does make them happy, and therefore, it is meaningful to them. Just don’t give a fuck about what people think about you.

Conclusion- find happiness in small things every day

Life gives us opportunities to be happy every day and we should grab the opportunities. A lot of our lives is just waiting for another day, while we should be stopping as much as possible to smell the flowers.

As this year has taught us, life can be quite fickle. We must cherish the life we have, and capture as many moments of joy, while we can from our everyday routine lives.

I wish you happiness. I wish you joy.

Thank you for reading.

The purpose of this blog to help you find your happiness. Please read the other posts on the blog, and follow so that you get updates when new posts are published. Please share any posts you like with your friends so that they can also find their happiness. If you have any feedback for me, please leave it in the comments and I would be happy to work on it. If you would like to support my writing and this blog, you may please send a donation through PayPal here.

I appreciate the time you spent in reading the blog and wish you happiness.

Love,

Amarvani