For young people today, life is a constant pull between happiness and frustration. It's a daily struggle for satisfaction. It's so easy to be "bummed out" with your looks, grades, dating life. . .or your parents. But when people dwell on these negative perceptions, their entire personalities can change and insecurities can turn toward dangerous behavior.
When you fail to find satisfaction, you feel deprived. Others may be happy with their lot in life, but you feel like you're always getting the short end of things. Many of the problems with today's youth are the direct result of feeling deprived, hollow or empty. Their desperation to find satisfying moments has increasingly led to dangerous drugs, sex or violence. This shows how important it is to rediscover a healthy purpose for living and a strong self-concept. Life is a joyride only when there is lasting dignity and value in every choice that we make.
Happy people are not necessarily created from happy circumstances.
Many people are too dependent on good circumstances to be happy. They constantly complain about things going wrong. If we're not careful, a depression will set in as we feel sorry for ourselves. Instead of learning from the twists and turns of life, we'll hold pity parties for ourselves and begin missing opportunities to grow as a person. Truly happy people generate a positive outlook from internal attitudes.
Sometimes we put ourselves in a position to be "dissatisfied".
In areas like eating, spending money and drinking, we learn that consuming more can lead to being dissatisfied with previous amounts, pushing us to excessive behavior. We find ourselves getting out-of-control, where eventually, almost no amount of those items seem to satisfy us. Learning to exercise discipline actually can create more satisfaction.
You can develop a more positive outlook when you find value in who you are and work hard to improve.
Sometimes we compare ourselves to others and end up feeling that we don't measure up now and never will. Nobody is ever equal to all others in life, or has to be. We'd be better off accepting who we are and making progress in changing that reality, instead of mimicking others to gain acceptance or meaning. That means considering the value of hard work.
True satisfaction, or joy, tends to come from meaningful relationships and unselfish action.
Instead of misleading people or abusing them, solid friendships built on leading each other in good directions, offers the most satisfying experiences in the long run. Doing what is best for people may mean sacrificing or delaying your pleasure for their best interest. Even in the larger sense, living in our city or nation cannot be satisfying if people are only self-serving.
To be fulfilled, our lives have to have meaning, not just experiences. Drug abuse, casual sex and violence may leave people feeling powerful, but they cannot leave people with lasting satisfaction because they lower our sense of value. When we uplift ourselves and others, when we empower and not abuse our friends or family, we develop a deeper joy in life. Garth Woods, the eminent psychologist, says that "life is not about the selfish search for pleasure, but the contentedness and self-respect that come from love, sacrifice and the facing of - not avoiding - life's hardships. " By making better choices, by doing what is most beneficial for people, we can have a life of meaning, a real joyride!
