If You Want to Be Happy, STOP Asking WHY and START Saying WOW

Change your perspective

A lot of people struggle with being happy because they see happiness as some final destination to be reached. They attach conditions that they must meet to reach their happiness.

“Once I retire”

“Once I make enough money”

“Once I accomplish my goals”

The problem with setting such conditions is that your happiness gets tied to something external. Retirement, money, or whatever else. If that external thing isn’t there, then you won’t be happy.

Well, that’s not a very good way to live!

Because what happens if you don’t retire as soon as you like? Or you don’t make enough money? Or you don’t accomplish all of your goals?

Sure, it’s shitty to think that all your dreams won’t come true, but that’s simply the reality. There are a million different things that can happen that could derail your plans. The future is totally uncertain, no one can predict it.

The lifetime odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 106, or just slightly less than 1%.

Only about 3% of Americans have a net worth of over 1 million dollars.

I’m not saying this to be the party-pooper in the room. I’m saying it to put things into perspective. The future is uncertain. It makes absolutely no sense for you to stake your happiness on external things that may not ever happen, simply because of luck.

Changing your perspective on happiness

So what can we do? How can we be happy without attaching our sense of happiness to something external?

Personally, I think a great way to learn about anything, is to read the work of people who are experts on the subject. They’ve spent a lot more time on specific concepts like how to achieve happiness than you and me, so they can offer a deeper insight.

The recently published Almanack of Naval puts together all of the life lessons from famous entrepreneur-philosopher Naval Ravikant. In the book, Naval tells an interesting story about a friend of his. His friend has an exercise that helps him put happiness into the right perspective.

“There’s a friend of mine, a Persian guy named Behzad. He just loves life, and he has no time for anybody who is not happy.

If you ask Behzad what’s his secret? He’ll just look up and say, “Stop asking why and start saying wow.” The world is such an amazing place. As humans, we’re used to taking everything for granted. Like what you and I are doing right now. We’re sitting indoors, wearing clothes, well-fed, and communicating with each other through space and time. We should be two monkeys sitting in the jungle right now watching the sun going down, asking ourselves where we are going to sleep.”

Everyone is always trying so hard to answer “why” they should be happy. Why should you be happy without money? Why should you be happy if you haven’t yet achieved your goals? Why should you be happy before retirement?

That “why” question is difficult to answer because you have to think of a solid reason as to why. It could be hard to come up with an answer for some more challenging situations. Some situations might not even have an explainable answer, it just feels good and happy.

The question of “why” puts a condition on your happiness. If you can’t find a why, then by default, you may think of yourself not being happy. But that’s not very fair, because it makes your happiness conditionally.

Ideally, you should be able to be happy in any and every situation in your life. The way to do that is to firmly decide that happiness is a part of every moment of your life. It is present everywhere, that is, everywhere you allow yourself to be happy.

Start Saying WOW

Instead of asking why, say wow! to everything that you do in life. This simple change in how you view things brings happiness into every moment.

You could go for a walk, right now, just because you feel like it. You could invite people to walk with you too to make it even more of a fun time.

WOW!

Eat your dinner slowly this time. Really take in all of the aromas and flavors. So, so delicious.

WOW!

Drop down and give me 10 push-ups! Isn’t it amazing how strong you are?!

WOW!

Go for a run. Go to the mall. Have a conversation with your friends or family. Read a good book. Watch some TV.

WOW!

Isn’t it amazing how many fun and happy things you can do in this world? You can make any moment fun and exciting and happy, just by changing your perspective on it. A great way of doing that is just to say WOW! to everything. Take it all in, smile, and enjoy it. We won’t be around in this world for very long, so you might as well have a little fun with it.

To quote Nike, if you want to do something, then honestly “just do it”.

It doesn’t matter if other people think that the thing you’re going to do is stupid or boring or not right. It doesn’t matter if people think it’s good or bad.

The only thing that matters is if it makes you happy. If you’re having a good time, then it’s a good thing in my book, and it should be in yours too. It’s your life and your happiness, so why not indulge in it.

Start saying WOW! to everything you can in your world, and you’ll start to bring happiness into your life in every moment.

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