How to Coach Yourself and Others Happiness Is No Accident | Page 48

THE DEFINITION OF HAPPINESS TO LIVE BY
A clear definition of happiness is very difficult to find for such a common term.
When I have asked others for a definition of happiness the most general response is a feeling of
contentment.
As a result of this, many people, perhaps subconsciously, tend to be a little wary of happiness.
Happiness seems to be a selfish goal. This definition brings to mind an image of happy people
lying around all day.
Therefore people sometimes think that they would cease to be productive members of society, that
they would stop caring about others.
In truth nothing could be further from the truth.
You cannot help others, you cannot be truly productive and useful unless you are happy.
And you cannot be truly happy, unless you are productive, useful and helping others.

happiness covers three main elements.
Feeling good - Pleasure or a feeling of peace or contentment.
Thoughts - Looking back over your life and being generally satisfied with what has passed and
what has yet to pass.
Not feeling bad - Feeling bad obviously detracts from happiness.
Obviously these elements are part of happiness. However I think that these definitions of happiness
are missing the point.
Here's why.
Let’s use the ageing of our bodies as an analogy of how we create unhappiness.
Ageing is a little like the rusting of a car. It is a gradual wearing down that leads to cellular
degeneration, which we observe as ageing.
Every year 99% of our cells are renewed. Every seven years we have a completely new body. If
the new cells were exactly the same as the previous cells we would never age. However because
the body is under continual attack the cells begin to mutate.
The attacks come from:
-

Pollutants in the atmosphere.
Lack of nutrients in our food.
Inefficiencies in our bodily systems for example lack of exercise or illness.
Biochemical effects of emotions such as anger and anxiety.

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