高职学院　林玲

Happiness is a feeling that comes as a result of pleasure, contentment, and satisfaction when something good happens on us. We often assume that happiness is something that we are lack of or beyond our control. However, for the most part happiness is under our control. While true achievement lies in the struggling.

Life is an album that consists of various snapshots. Maybe some are full of sunshine, while others are in the dark. When confronted, we should choose the correct attitude toward them and seek a short cut to happiness with efforts.

If the path in front of us is straight and smooth, we have to learn to be grateful and content. We believe that we will be happy once we arrive at some specific goal we set for ourselves. However, more often than not, by chasing after another “there” continually, we are never really satiated with what we already have right “here”. To be grateful means we appreciate and enjoy what we have and where we are on the path right now. Gratitude fills our heart with the joyful feeling and allows us to fully appreciate everything at the present moment. We can experience the full wonder of this moment. Creating a space in our mind for appreciation for all that we have at present, so that we may live more joyously in our present moment. Many people are afraid of not having sufficient what they need or want, and so they are always striving to get to a point when they would finally have enough. But just like puzzle pieces, we can’t fit anything in some place where it does not naturally belong. We should realize that true happiness comes not from amassment, but rather from appreciation. We have to learn to appreciate what we already have enough.

Besides appreciation, to achieve a happy life, it’s also necessary to overcome some stumbling blocks. And now, we should go to have a lesson called “Be an optimist”. Do you see the glass as half-full rather than half empty? Do you keep your eyes upon the doughnut, not upon the hole? If we could learn to think more positively, it would be like a painkiller against the hopelessness, depression and loneliness. If we choose to find the positive in virtually every situation, we will be blessed. If we choose to find the awful, we will be cursed. As with happiness itself, this is largely our decision to make.

By learning the lessons of gratitude, abundance and optimism, which are the most elements for happiness, we have found an easier access to happiness.

（吴华荔老师　批阅）