Take a moment to think about what makes you happy.
For me, these 6 things sure do:
1. Love - being honest, reliable, respectful, affectionate, kind, approachable, warm, true, loving etc etc - having that special bond with someone is so important to me - I can't imagine a life with no friends, no one to share good times with - existence would be a bore. Love from friends, family, your partner, your pets - whatever - love is the key, love makes the world go round, love makes me happy.
2. Sunshine - the weather really does affect our happiness - the sun generally makes people happy, i've noticed this over the past few years - moving to places with different weather patterns and meeting new people, it's really obvious that when the suns out people are a lot happier compared to when it's raining.
3. Money - although money is at the route of all my problems, it definitely helps to fund my happiness. It's not the actual money that makes me happy - its the things I can spend it on - the activities and services that generate good times.
4. Being happy at your job - the times in my life that i've been most unhappy are when I have been in a difficult financial position so life has become a struggle, or when I've not been happy at work - perhaps not getting along with your boss, not feeling fulfilled, having to do the same tedious tasks every day, dealing with difficult customers, not being in the role you want to be in - it really makes you question the meaning of life and what is most important to you - I understand that sometime you have to work in a shitty job for a while to work your way to a better position, but that doesn't change the fact that it makes you unhappy. So yes, being satisfied with my job is a very important factor to my happiness - we spend so much time at work - it would be terrible to hate life for all those hours a day.
5. Communication - communication with friends and family is so very important to me, letters/emails/phonecalls - even if they are weeks or months apart - just a reminder of your concern for them and your love for each other, respect for your relationship. Communication also through society helps generate understanding, clear communication in work helps avoid problems, learning to communicate with people from different cultures, religions, nationalities is important. Communication and understanding helps to avoid confusion/frustration/unhappiness. Most problems that occur in the world is a result of poor communication combined with a lack of....
6. Respect - Respect for ourselves and others, respect for differing opinions, cultures, beliefs, religions, belongings, feelings. It's important to be appreciated, understood and respected. I imagine I would be unhappy if I was paid no respect. I don't mean that I demand for people to bow down to me, I just believe it's very important to show people respect, and to show the world respect - it's not hard, it's very simple. I've seen it happen a lot around me - when people have no respect for themselves, they make silly decisions and they end up unhappy. When people have no respect for others, they don't tend to be loved so they become unhappy, when people have no respect for their job and their responsibility to work, they end up with no job and no money and then consequently unhappy as they are not able to fund good times.
