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Who doesn't want to be happy? After all, happiness is a wonderful state of wellbeing, often rooted in leading a purposeful life and finding contentment.
For many people, finding happiness is a primary objective, sometimes valued even more than material achievements and success. It is likely that you, too, have those aspirations. But is happiness all there is to aspire to? How can you transform happiness into enduring sensations of profound fulfillment, purpose and satisfaction?
The difference between happiness and satisfaction
Happiness and satisfaction, according to Positive Psychology, are not the same thing. Happiness is fleeting, a moment of elation and positive, enjoyable emotions. Life satisfaction, on the other hand, is more long-lived, based on real accomplishments and achievements, such as your relationships, personal development, work, health and wellbeing.
Satisfaction is also more about your own personal values and about your quality of life. In other words, satisfaction is more subjective and personal and completely up to you.
According to Quartz, Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow believes that there is another way to think of the difference between happiness and satisfaction. Happiness is being happy in your life. It can be experienced immediately, the moment it occurs.
Life satisfaction is being happy about your life. It is the positive feeling you get when you talk about the past and about your life as a whole. True accomplishments and maybe even feelings of deep pride.
How to build a life of satisfaction
Building a life of satisfaction is not easy. In fact it requires a lot of work,according to mindbodygreen. One of these things to work on while in the pursuit of life-satisfaction is reducing people-pleasing behaviors. This includes learning to be completely authentic with yourself, your ideals, your needs and freeing yourself from doing things for the wrong reasons.
Another thing to work on is facing your fears and being willing to take risks. If there is one thing that is satisfying it’s conquering something you are afraid of, or being scared and choosing to do it anyway.
Knowledge recommends that you practice empathy, compassion towards others as well as gratitude. This will help you to grow as a person.
It is also important to find meaning at work. You spend a lot of your waking hours at work and feeling satisfied with your life can have a great deal to do with how you are choosing to spend your time and how much value you put on that.
All in all, there are so many strategies you can put into place in order to lead a fulfilling life. Which one will you choose?
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