"I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer." - Jim Carrey
I, just like everyone else, always wanting and searching for that state of " happiness". Then, just like how the society (mostly) is, I start to expect happiness in material things, possession, money and even people. As the time went on, I finally felt that there's missing link. Don't get me wrong, all of those things I mention is definitely making life easier in certain way, but in no way guarantees happiness.
So I start asking myself this question : what does one need then, to be happy?
After having quite a disappointment by searching externally, I start to search within. And I come into realization that maybe happiness doesn't lie in having more but rather by appreciating things you do have NOW. In other word, by being grateful. By practicing gratitude.
Instead of having a mindset of having more and more and more, I realize that by practicing gratitude, what I have is enough. Actually, sometimes even more than enough.
I see that often in life, we're just too focus on what's going wrong rather than looking for what's going right. We spend our days fixing things that's wrong, rant and moan about why things don't go the way we want it to be and we beat ourselves up for things that we do wrong or the mistakes we make. But we clearly spend less time to be thankful about what's going right in our life. Even little things like waking up in your own room, on your cozy bed, wrap in warm blanket and in healthy condition - we rarely feel thankful or grateful about it, right? That's why we often take things for granted.
So let's start embracing gratitude. Look for things in life to be happy about. Well, we can't deny that shit happens sometimes, but you should know you still have a LOT of things in your life to be excited about. You just have to start looking! If you still find it difficult, you can start by writing down things that you're grateful about each night in your own journal. Things that goes right that day. So when you're feeling down you can re-read all of those things that makes you happy. Little things, positive things. Start practicing and expressing gratitude continually, it can definitely shift our brain into thinking in a much more healthy and happy way.
Maybe, happiness is just a matter of perspective... and practice.
Sabrina Putri.



