how to enjoy life. :D

Everyone wants to enjoy life to the fullest, and some people do it too, the only thing is that the people who know how to enjoy life and be happy are very less in number as compared to the majority of people in the world, who are unhappy with how their life is! By this statement I am not saying that they all are miserably sad and living forcefully, what I meant was that these people are living for survival and not enjoyment. Most of those who fall into this category will not agree to that, but the fact is, that in the race of achieving success, being ahead of others, making more money than others, at some point we all realize that life is not how we wanted it, it is however, just life! Before I tell you about how to enjoy life to the fullest, I want you to read this remarkable quote that inspires me everyday to appreciate the gift of life.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes." ~ Charles R. Swindoll

Ways to Enjoy Life

I know, the first thing that you will expect on this list is spending a lot of money on luxuries! If you think so, then you will be surprised to know that money has nothing to do with realhappiness! I agree, money is important for survival, but I somehow feel that that's how it should be! As quoted in the above saying, our attitude is the one responsible for our unhappiness. Another human tendency is greed, we have thousands of dollars but we crave for millions, we manage to get millions and then we want billions…running to make a better life, we forget to live life. Money, after a certain point never gives happiness, on the contrary, it takes away what you have, it takes away your sense of valuing things, it makes you take things for granted and THIS is why we have forgotten how to enjoy life in the real way. So what should one do?

Be Grateful for What You Have
People tend to focus on their career, run after more money and work all the more hard. While their families look forward to spend some time with them, the weekends goes in playing golf with boss, yes, they do have a family, they are there, that's not important right now! Playing golf with boss might get them a promotion, more money! After all, they are doing the best for the family and the worst too. They are taking the most important thing in their life for granted. Yes, this would be your first step to learn how to enjoy life! The biggest mistake that we make is to take things for granted. What you need to realize is that if they are with you today, it's not necessary that they'll always be. If you analyze your life carefully, you will definitely realize what I am talking about.

Live Each Moment
Living each moment is the best way of how to be happy everyday, although, I won't blame the people who fail to do that. There is pressure - family, career, money - a lot of pressure. How do you expect us to enjoy each moment with so much pressure? Your kid comes to you to show his drawing, you are tensed, you shoo him away. What if you actually took a moment out to see what he has drawn, to see how your kid sees the world? What if you saw that drawing, praised your kid and then your kid kisses you saying 'I love you daddy'. Don't you think living that moment would have given you the strength to take the pressure, or maybe let go of it, even though it is for a few minutes? So live each moment, that's what actually counts.

Learn to Let Go
Letting go, the most difficult, yet the most important thing to be done in order to be happy and to be able to enjoy life. You can't enjoy with burdens of grudges and revenge, can you? As told by Charles R. Swindoll, "We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way", there are many people who hurt us, hurt us to such an extent that we change to a different person altogether. But why? After all, "we are in charge of our attitudes", right? Learn to let go of things by taking it as a lesson that life taught you. Very easily said, but equally difficult to do, forgiving others and letting go of negativity in your life will definitely make you enjoy your life to the fullest and focus on the more important things.

Look for The Positive Aspects
Letting go of the negative aspects and focusing on the positive aspects will make you view life with all the lessons and opportunities that it has. Every side of life has two coins, and your way to perceive it depicts how you lead your life! Read inspirational books that promote positive thinking, take great examples of people who flourished in life after great struggle and hardships. All you need to do is to believe in yourself, believe in the supreme power and believe that if life has brought you till the edge, it will either catch you when you fall, or teach you how to fly! That is why happy and optimists live longer as compared to people having a negative approach in life!

Slow Down, Life is a Journey, Not a Race
They say, "Life is a race, be quick or you will be left behind". They also say that "life consists of opportunities everywhere, you only need to widen your horizon and look closely". Reading these two statements make me wonder, if life is full of unseen opportunities everywhere, what's the harm in being left behind if that gives you happiness! Do you realize how many moments have you missed to enjoy in life just because of the fear that someone else might win the race! If racing gives you happiness, no problem, but if you are unhappy doing it, why do it?

Follow Your Passion
Continuing from the above point, if you are unhappy doing what you are doing, why are you doing it? Are you doing it because everyone else is doing it, or because it gives you more money! I follow example of the people who followed their passion and excelled in their passion to such an extent, that people started following them, money started following them! Life is so dynamic and ever changing that you never know what comes next. Sounds impractical to many people but then, what's the point of being practical if it doesn't give you happiness and doesn't allow you to enjoy life!

Spend Some Time With Nature
In our daily routine of going to work, school, colleges, meetings, etc., do you get the time to admire what is around you? The best way to find inner peace and happiness is to spend some time with nature. Just sit on the sea shore and watch the waves come and go, climbing on a hill and watching the view, go fishing with your family, watching the sunrise or the sunset, seeing the stars twinkle in the night…do you know how this will help to enjoy life? It will teach you to value what you have, it will teach you to not take things for granted, it will teach you to understand the meaning of the phrase, 'This world is beautiful and so is life!'

Make Your Family Your Priority
After all, family is the most important thing that teaches you how to be happy in life, it is your own world in this world! Earning money to meet family's demands is not more important than spending sometime with your family and understanding what is it that they actually demand, is it money, or is it spending some fun time with you. I remember a story I read sometime ago, 'A five year old boy went to his father who was busy doing his office work and asked, "Father how much do you earn in an hour"? Father thought it was weird for his kid to ask this question but then he replied, "About a $100, why"? The son replied, "Father, can you give me $50?" Father got really upset for a 5 year old to ask for $50 and shouted at him asking why would he need so much of money! The son replied weeping, "I wanted to give you that $50 so that you spend half an hour with me".'

Pray
Of course you need mental strength to keep up with the challenges you face in life. If you believe in God, ask him for strength to help you enjoy your life and find inner peace, to treasure what he has given you. Trust me, prayers give you an unexplained strength to simplify the complications of life! Even God tells us the value of life in The Bible, Mathew 6:25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"

Enjoyment and happiness never come on a physical level, it is a mental state which comes only when you manage to take life with a positive attitude and learn the secret of happiness. How to enjoy life is not difficult, what is difficult is to learn how to enjoy life with a resistant mind. There are a lot of ways to enjoy life, but all the ways require the same mindset…a positive one. So take a break and question yourself, how do you want to enjoy your life? You get only a single life, live it before you lose it!