Word for being happy with what you have

Life can be hard. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take in some wise words from a friend or from an idol. So, I’ve decided to compile a list of some of the greatest quotes about life I’ve ever seen! Feel free to add your own in the comments!

1. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr Seuss

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Dr Seuss, the famous children’s author encouraging us to look on the bright side and be positive! This could be applied to many situations, a breakup, the loss of a loved one, or perhaps leaving school or a job.

Whatever it is, if you can manage a smile then your day will become a bit brighter. Think about all the lovely memories and great moments that will never leave you. And if that fails, pick up one of Seuss’ books. You won’t be able to stop smiling!

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2. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

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Another famous author! Oscar Wilde on whether people truly live their lives. Do you hate your job but continue to do it anyway? Do you want to travel but you’re afraid to leave home?

Mr Wilde is talking to you! Life is short so why not enjoy it? We are all very lucky to be alive and we should make the most of every single moment!

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3. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

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Albert Einstein, everybody’s favourite theoretical physicist. Smartphones weren’t around in Einstein’s times which is probably a good thing. Are you a technology addict? Would you choose the latest YouTube video over a conversation with a loved one in the same room?

Drop the smartphone! Let go of the tablet! Shut down the computer! (Not now, reading myenglishteacher.eu is acceptable. Albert said so.) But over the next few days, just look at the world around you. There are beautiful colours, beautiful animals and beautiful people right there next to you! If your eyes are constantly on a screen, you may be missing out…

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4. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – Allen Saunders

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The multitalented Allen Saunders on how life cannot be mapped out. It doesn’t matter how much you try, you cannot truly plan life. You can live in a certain way and work towards certain goals but there will always be unexpected turns.

This can be a good thing! Wouldn’t it be boring if you knew everything that was going to happen in your life? You’d be expecting everything and so how would you be surprised or scared? How would you learn? In two words, you wouldn’t! It would be like reading the last page of a book before you have started it (not recommended!).

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5. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso

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If you have ever looked at a Picasso painting then you will know exactly what he is trying to say! Your imagination has the power to change the world! Using your imagination isn’t just for children.

Picasso himself used his imagination to create extremely popular art. He created this art regularly, each piece of work different from the next. Just think of how many authors, artists and entrepreneurs use their imaginations every day. Are you using your imagination on a regular basis?

If not, try to bring it back into your life. You will be surprised at the results! Life can be a lot brighter with just a little bit of imagination. The best part is, it’s easy! Just relax and imagine. Make Pablo proud.

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6. “Where there is love there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi

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Human beings were designed to love each other, but sometimes it looks like we are a bit lost! War, poverty and hatred are all that we seem to see in the news. The good news is that we can make a difference! Little acts of kindness go a long way.

Smile at people, hold doors open, say hello to people you pass in the street! Most importantly, love those around you. Your family, your partner and your friends are all great gifts from the world so make sure you appreciate them every day!

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7. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” -George Bernard Shaw

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This is an important one to remember. Some people spend their lives trying to understand who they really are and why they are really here. Are you one of these people? If so, stop sitting around and start creating your own identity!

You have the power to be whoever you want to be and create whatever you want to create. Imagine your life as a blank canvas or a set of pages with no writing inside. What are you waiting for? Paint your own picture or write your own story. The world is waiting for you. It’s never too late to change or reinvent yourself!

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8. “We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” – May Sarton

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Following the theme of creating your own identity, this fantastic quote from May Sarton that tells you its okay to be who you’re meant to be! Why try to change to fit in? Live life the way you are and you will always feel comfortable in your own body.

If the people around you don’t like or approve of you and who you choose to become, then get away from them! You don’t need negativity. There are other people that will appreciate the real you. As the quote says, sometimes it can be difficult or scary to find out who you really are, but once you get used to yourself and your identity, life will be a lot easier!

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9. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Why do things that other people have already done a million times? The popular way is not always the best way! Blazing your own trail can lead to great self-fulfilment and also to a lot of recognition from other people.

So many discoveries were made because of different thinking and new ideas that contradicted old beliefs. Who knows? Maybe you will think of that next great idea and maybe it will change the world.

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10. “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced” – Soren Kierkegaard

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A beautiful quote from Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. So many people try to see the negative in their life without thinking about the positive!

As far as we know, we only have one life. Why waste it by overcomplicating things? Live in every moment, every second of every day to the best of your ability and you will be making the most of your time in this reality!

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11. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” – Audrey Hepburn

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The most important part – being happy! You may notice that this is the main theme of the article, lots of happy quotes to make you smile! (you’re welcome). Audrey Hepburn was a fantastic British actress in her day, she unfortunately died in 1993. And this is a great motto to live by, if you are not happy with your life then make an effort to change for the better!

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12. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius

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Following on from Audrey Hepburn we move to Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor. But if you look at the two quotes they are saying much the same thing! Aurelius tells us that happiness is within us, a view shared by many philosophers throughout history.

We have power and the choice to be happy, great news right? So, if you’re sad today, make the right choice. Smile! Be happy! Love those around you!

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13. “Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” – Sholom Aleichem

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This quote from Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem, takes a lot of analysis. So lets analyse!

• “…a dream for the wise…” – The wise are always thinking about possibilities and different realities. The only one that anyone can affect, however, is reality.
• “…a game for the fool…” – The fools are always playing around and doing silly things. Therefore, life is a game!
• “…a comedy for the rich…” – The rich can afford (literally) to laugh at the world because they have security and possibilities. But money doesn’t always buy happiness…

Everyone has their own unique perspective on life and it’s important to remember this. People see things differently and may not always agree with you. Be open with your views!

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14. “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese

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Lovely! And so true. When you think back over your fondest memories, they may only be small snapshots. It’s important to remember that these moments could come at any time if you are living life to the best of your ability every day!

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15. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius 

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Confucius cutting through all complications! This quote says that life is easy to live and that maybe people are overthinking their lives. Are you guilty of overthinking?

If something makes you happy, you should be doing it. If something doesn’t make you happy, then you shouldn’t be doing it! Simple! Simplify things and be happy.

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16. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

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Another one to do with making the most of your time. Look at these two scenarios:

• Living in solitary confinement for 90 years and dying without meeting anyone or experiencing anything.
• Living 30 years, meeting lots of really cool people and doing incredible things.

Which life would you rather have? Which do you think ‘Honest Abe’ would have chosen? Live a full life!

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17. “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all details of daily life.” – William Morris

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You’ll notice that many of the quotes here sound very simple. Maybe you’re shouting at the screen: “LIFE CANNOT BE THAT SIMPLE!” Well, it really can! William Morris is talking here about appreciating every day.

Look around you right now and notice the details of wherever you are reading this. Think about all the little innovations, all the designs of man and nature and then think about how amazing those things are! The beauty is in the detail.

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18. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha

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The only thing you can affect is the present. The future is yet to arrive and the past is gone! So why do we spend so much time worrying about the past and the future? Take care of the present moment so that the past and future will take care of themselves. Again, it sounds so simple, but how often do you actually apply it?

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19. “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” – Arthur Rubinstein

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A really interesting insight from Arthur Rubinstein. Do you love your life? Does it love you back? If you think about it, the answers have to be the same. You are the master of your reality so you decide the way in which your life is lived.

Love is a two-way street no matter what you’re talking about, if you want something to love you back, you have to show love first!

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20. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King

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A perfect summary of all the quotes! Life is short. Appreciate it. Sometimes times are tough, but energy is best used finding solutions rather than feeling sad.

If you live your life to the best of your ability every day then you will surely be happy. I hope you enjoyed the list! Which one is your favourite?

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There’s a reason why happiness eludes so many of us. We falsely assume our happiness is conditional. “If I get that promotion at work, I’ll finally be happy.” “If I just lose ten more pounds, I’ll be happy with my body.”

If you ever have thoughts like these, congrats, you’re human! Setting attainable goals and striving for improvement are perfectly admirable aims. However, putting your happiness on hold until you achieve whatever you desire can lead to an endless cycle of dissatisfaction. There will always be another milestone to reach after you surpass your current one and the world will never run out of possessions for you to covet. And while there’s nothing wrong with yearning for more out of life, it is possible to be happy with what you currently have. 

In this article, I’ll explore the constant need for more as humans, why it’s so challenging to be happy with what you have, and how it can be possible for you. 

Contents

• Do you need more to be happy? 
• Happiness and hedonic adaptation 
• The vicious cycle of wanting more to be happy 
  • Fame, wealth, and success won’t make you happier 
• Tips on how to be happy with what you have 
  • 1. Lean into your relationships 
  • 2. Start a gratitude practice 
  • 3. Stop comparing yourself to others 
  • 4. Resist instant gratification
  • 5. Incorporate more minimalism into your life
  • 6. Embrace impermanence 
  • 7. Invest time in your relationship with yourself 
• Wrapping Up 

Do you need more to be happy? 

The short answer is yes–and no. As human beings, certain physiological needs such as food, water, and shelter must be met in order to be happy. If you lack any of those basic requirements for survival, you do indeed need more to be happy. Before you chase higher needs such as happiness, your basic needs must be satisfied first at least according to the father of human psychology, Abraham Maslow.

People often say that money can’t buy you happiness. Though this is true for the most part, there are exceptions. If you’re uncertain of where your next meal is coming from or how you’re going to afford the rent this month, money can certainly buy you the food and security necessary for you to be happy.  

Conversely, research shows that a person can still find ways to be happy even if their most basic needs are fulfilled only partially. This goes to show that it really is possible to be happy with less. 

While you can be happy with less, it turns out buying more can actually have the opposite effect. A 2011 study revealed that consumerism is linked to lower well-being.

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Happiness and hedonic adaptation 

Once your basic needs are met, the concept of needing more to be happy becomes flawed. Humans typically return to a set point of happiness regardless of their positive and negative life experiences. 

This tendency to adjust to life’s ups and downs is a concept referred to as hedonic adaptation or “the hedonic treadmill”. Hedonic adaptation first appeared in a 1971 essay by psychologists Philip Brickman and Donald T. Campbell. 

Brickman and Campbell studied two groups of people: lottery winners and paralyzed accident victims. Based on their research, they found that the initial elation experienced by the lottery winners was not long-lasting. Surprisingly, those who won a life-changing sum of money were not any happier than the paralyzed victims in the long term. 

The hedonic treadmill explains why our positive experiences only have a fleeting effect on our happiness. I’m sure you know what it’s like to look forward to something, feel ecstatic when you finally attain it, and then, just like that, the initial surge in happiness dissipates. Just like that, you’re back where you started. 

The vicious cycle of wanting more to be happy 

The trouble with needing more to be happy is that seeking external sources of happiness is not a permanent solution. Sure, the sudden rush of joy feels amazing at first, but it eventually fades away. 

The transient nature of these sources of happiness can turn into a never-ending cycle of needing more each time to maintain the same level of satisfaction. Not only is this exhausting, but it can be downright unhealthy. 

A 2017 study on sensory-specific satiety found that the first bite of delicious food tastes better than all successive bites. This is why more variety in food options can lead to overeating.  

If you’re active on any social media platform, you’re likely familiar with the rush of dopamine triggered by notifications. Have you noticed how the more likes or comments you receive on a post, the more you want? If a post doesn’t receive the same amount or more likes as your last post, your self-esteem takes a hit. 

Dopamine isn’t just the chemical responsible for feeling pleasure, it’s also pleasure-seeking. If the reward you anticipated doesn’t come, in this case, a certain number of comments and likes on your post, you feel the urge to check your feed more often. 

Fame, wealth, and success won’t make you happier 

The longest study of adult life ever conducted followed two groups for over 80 years:

• Harvard students and
• Boys from Boston’s poorest neighborhoods. 

Their findings were rather surprising. The boys who came from disadvantaged families were just as happy as the privileged group. The findings also discovered that good relationships are key to happiness. Not fame, wealth, or success.

Tips on how to be happy with what you have 

Fortunately, there are numerous ways to break the cycle of constantly needing more to be happy. While it may be challenging at first, it is possible to be happy with what you have. 

1. Lean into your relationships 

With so many studies revealing that happiness is determined by your closest relationships, it’s essential for you to work on the quality of yours. The good news is there are a lot of ways to improve your relationships, and many of them don’t require much effort. 

For starters, be fully present with your loved ones while spending time with them. Far too often, we pay more attention to our phones than the people right in front of us.

Another way to strengthen your relationships is to recognize and respond to bids for connection. For example, if your partner is talking about their day, listen intently and ask them questions instead of responding with grunts or worse, not at all. 

2. Start a gratitude practice 

Practicing gratitude is the easiest and most immediate way to be happy with what you have. Good things happen to us every single day, we just don’t take the time to notice. Intentionally acknowledging all the good in your life is beneficial for your health and results in greater happiness. 

If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more?

Roy T. Bennett

There are endless ways to incorporate gratitude into your life. Here are a few suggestions to get you started: 

• Keep a gratitude journal. Write down everything you’re grateful for before you go to bed each night. 
• Each time something good happens to you, express gratitude out loud or silently in your head. 
• If you have a partner, tell them the qualities you appreciate most about them. 
• Celebrate every small win, no matter how small. 
• Thank everyone who shows you kindness. 

3. Stop comparing yourself to others 

We all know that nothing good comes out of comparing yourself to others. And yet, we all do it anyway. Thanks to social media, making comparisons is now easier than ever.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Theodore Roosevelt 

The problem is we often forget that a social media feed isn’t a comprehensive picture of a person’s life. While it may not be possible to resist comparison one hundred percent of the time, being aware of it as it happens is a huge step in the right direction. 

One way to fight the comparison itch is to remind yourself that people typically only share their highlights. Comparing your baseline to someone’s highest achievements will only breed misery.

4. Resist instant gratification

Easier said than done, right? If you truly want to be happy with what you have, you must overcome the temptation of instant gratification. Succumbing to it may give you brief bursts of happiness in the short term, but you could be unknowingly reinforcing a self-destructive habit in the long run. 

Here are some alternatives to the most common forms of instant gratification: 

• Instead of reaching for your phone to check your notifications, stand up and stretch. 
• Instead of indulging in another bite of something unhealthy, take a deep breath. Check in with yourself to determine if you’re still hungry or not. 
• Instead of spending more hours than you’d like playing video games or watching Netflix, gradually reduce your time allotted for these activities. Perhaps, instead of five hours, you can cut it down to four, and then three, and so on. 

Depending on how deeply ingrained the habit is, it may be near impossible to resist so be kind to yourself if you struggle at first. 

5. Incorporate more minimalism into your life

To be happy with less, you need to get used to having less. The truth is you probably don’t need most of your stuff. Now, I’m not suggesting you have to donate all of your possessions to be happy. However, it wouldn’t hurt to declutter every once in a while and throw anything you no longer use or value in a donation box.

Another way to live more minimally is to thrift your clothes instead of buying new ones. Look for staple, high-quality pieces that you can style in multiple ways instead of falling for the fast fashion trap. 

6. Embrace impermanence 

Accepting the fact that nothing stays the same may seem counterintuitive to happiness, but it’s not. The more you embrace the fact that nothing lasts forever, the less likely you are to cling to it and resist change. Making peace with impermanence also reduces our desire for material objects. This makes it possible to be happy with what you have. 

Moreover, when you understand that all things will wither and fade eventually, you learn to appreciate your life more. Embracing that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed for anyone is a good reminder to not take the people we love for granted and to savor every bit of happiness that wanders your way. 

7. Invest time in your relationship with yourself 

How well do you really know yourself? It’s difficult to be happy with your life just as it is unless you are intimately familiar with who you are. To know true happiness, you must first know yourself. Most of us have only scratched the surface of our identity. There are parts of ourselves still waiting to be discovered and appreciated. 

To cultivate a loving and healthy relationship, you can: 

• Take yourself out on dates. Go to your favourite restaurant and treat yourself to a delicious meal. Alternatively, you can go to a museum alone and completely immerse yourself in the experience. If you’re a homebody, light a scented candle and read a good book. 
• Journal. Writing your thoughts and feelings down is one of the best ways to improve self-awareness. The more self-aware you are, the easier it becomes to be happy with what you have. 
• Play games by yourself. As children, play used to come naturally to us. As adults, it’s something we dismiss as silly or childish. However, play is actually one of the best ways to grow our right hemisphere, the side of our brain that is key to happiness. 

💡 By the way: If you want to start feeling better and more productive, we’ve condensed the information of 100’s of our articles into a 10-step mental health cheat sheet here. 👇

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Wrapping Up 

Desiring more out of life is inherently human, but your happiness is not dependent on it. Ultimately, your happiness is not sustained by possessions, success, wealth or fame, it hinges on you. It is possible to be happy with what you have, but like any skill, happiness requires practice. Train yourself to be more grateful, more committed to your relationships, and more minimalistic instead of wanting more. Happiness will surely follow.

Do you want to share your own tips on how to be happy with what you have? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Writer and recovering perfectionist from Canada. A huge fan of stories, empathy, and matcha lattes. May or may not have a tendency to cry at everything especially acts of kindness.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

– Frederick Keonig

What is happiness?

We all know the sensation of it in our bodies. We know what it feels like to be in a state of happiness. We understand the difference between being happy, and being in an altogether different state. We crave its presence and feel we deserve its existence in our lives.

But what exactly is it?

Some things in life are simply undefinable, unexplainable without using subjectivity to support an understanding of them.

We all have ideas about the things that “make” us happy.

For some, happiness results from spending time with family. For others, happiness is the result of contributing to society. For many others, happiness comes from sitting at home relaxing with a book or watching TV.

What’s more is that the things that make us happy are not static. What once made us happy in the past may not create the same feeling in us now. If we’re really being honest, what made us happy 5 minutes ago might not even touch us in the same way now. Others can help guide us in discovering what truly makes us happy, like if you talk to a therapist.

Though regardless of how it comes to be, if happiness is what we crave, the questions we have to try and answer are whether we can cultivate happiness – this unexplainable feeling we each intimately have come to know, and how we can achieve its presence in our lives regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Step One: Stop defining what has to happen for you to be happy

One of the main reasons we don’t maintain a stable sense of that unexplainable feeling we all so deeply want to feel the presence of in our lives is the fact that we continuously condition it upon things happening in our lives.

By the very act of saying and living as if you will be happy when some event or circumstance appears in your life, you are creating a distinction between being happy and not being happy that becomes an absolute reality.

Have you ever noticed how young children don’t need anything to make them feel joyful?

Everyone has basic needs that have to be met in order to create the possibility of overall well-being. Babies cry when they need their diapers changed, when they’re hungry, when they feel pain, when they need warmth, etc.

Outside of these basic needs, feeling happy – content – satisfied  –  is a state that is characterized only by subjective ideas about what it is.

As we grow up we’re taught through imitation and suggestion by others that happiness is something we should crave. We don’t see that by the very act of craving something, we create an actual lack of whatever it is we say we want.

So long as I identify circumstances in which I will be happy, I cannot cultivate a sense of content with where I am in life. I will forever be chasing the very thing I crave.

Step Two: Become Happiness

“If you ask a tree how he feels to know that he’s spreading his fragrance and making people happy, I don’t think a tree looks at it that way. I am just like that, and it is just my nature to be like this.”
― Sadhguru

Happiness is a way of life. It is an attitude.

I want you to think about your current situation, the circumstances that surround your life in this moment. Now think about everything you think of as “good” or “bad” in your life.

Here’s the very simple truth.

You are exactly the way you look at the events that are occurring in your life. The way you see a circumstance as good or bad, as beautiful or ugly, is who you are. That is the true secret to finding yourself, and to transforming your entire reality.

We take for granted that we know ourselves.

In reality, we are how we give our attention to the things that happen in our lives.

There are always multiple ways of looking at something, and we each bring a different type of attention to the discussion of any given topic. The fact that we each have differing viewpoints about what brings happiness is direct proof of this. All we share in terms of what happiness means is the common feeling and sensation that comes with the word.

Some of the ways we bring attention that rob us of feeling happy are:

• Comparing ourselves with others
• Choosing to see what’s bad about a situation rather than the potential for learning from it
• Thinking about how things could be better rather than worse
• Dwelling on past events we identify with negatively

Becoming the happiness you seek is about understanding what type of attention you bring and realizing that there is a possibility of transforming your relationship to the things that happen in your life. It is a real work, it isn’t something you turn on and have it be present forever. Bringing an attitude of happiness to your situation requires constant effort, constantly remembering that you ARE your attitude.

But ultimately, if happiness is the thing we all say we want, what’s more important than working towards it?

Step Three: Understanding That What Goes Up Must Come Down

The third aspect of cultivating an attitude of happiness within yourself stems from an understanding of one of the truths about life. Nothing is permanent. Nothing is fixed. Things are always evolving and degenerating both outside of us and inside of us.

Accepting that our emotional states aren’t constant, but rather are continuously changing is one of the keys to staying separated from the consequences that come with all negative emotions.

If you can begin to faithfully understand that life flows in a pattern characterized by movement upwards and downwards, you can learn to find a balance and happiness in this complete movement of change that is always happening inside of you.

Simply remembering that feeling hopeless, lonely, angry, frustrated, anxious, and sad are never permanent because life is always changing and how we feel about life is always changing is the only healthy method for staying separated from negativity that we feel.

Life is too short to waste it with an attitude that hurts. Choose to see beauty and opportunity in everything that comes your way, regardless of your circumstances, and you will become the very happiness you want to feel.

You have everything you need to be happy right now.

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We all want to be happy, right? These happiness quotes are the place to start your pursuit.

After all, life is better when we’re happy and feel positive.

So to help you on your journey, enjoy these feel-good quotes about happiness and being happy to help you find joy and satisfaction in life.

Top 10 Happiness Quotes

Happiness is largely a choice, not a right or entitlement.

David C. Hill

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

Dalai Lama

Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.

Steve Maraboli

A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness.

Bernard de Fontenelle

The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.

Carrie Jones

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.

Charles Spurgeon

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ask any number of people and each one will likely define happiness differently. Do you have your definition or are you still looking for one?

These quotes about happiness explore what it means, how to find it, and what to do if you have it.

Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.

Immanuel Kant

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.

Thomas Jefferson

Happiness is the interval between periods of unhappiness.

Don Marquis

The secret of happiness is to find a congenial monotony.

V.S. Pritchett

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.

Bertrand Russell

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

Denis Waitley

The happiness of life is made up of the little charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.

Benjamin Franklin

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.

Freya Stark

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.

Robertson Davies

There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

Charlotte Bronte

Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.

Johnny Carson

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

George Burns

Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other. When one takes a rest, the other one tends to take up the slack.

Hazelmarie Elliott

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.

Chinese Proverb

Happiness is the resultant of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings rather than an absolute amount of one or the other.

Norman Bradburn

Happiness is being content with what you have, living in freedom and liberty, having a good family life and good friends.

Divyanka Tripathi

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

Jonathan Safran Foer

Happiness is a matter of one’s most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.

Iris Murdoch

Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.

Orhan Pamuk

The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.

William Saroyan

The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.

Joseph Roux

The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.

J.D. Salinger

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happiness is an accident of nature, a beautiful and flawless aberration.

Pat Conroy

In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness – otherwise how would you know when you’re happy?

Leslie Caron

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Mahatma Gandhi

Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.

Maxim Gorky

Happiness is a well-balanced combination of love, labour, and luck.

Mary Wilson Little

Happiness is a dry martini and a good woman. Or a bad woman.

George Burns

Short Happiness Quotes

Happiness is a place between too much and too little.

Finnnish Proverb

Happiness is a form of courage.

Holbrook Jackson

No medicine cures what happiness cannot.

Gabriel García Márquez

Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.

William James

Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.

John Lubbock

Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.

W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe

Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.

Richard Bach

Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.

Buddha

All happiness depends on courage and work.

Honoré de Balzac

Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower.

John Harrigan

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.

Lady Blessington

Happiness is distraction from the human tragedy.

J.M. Reinoso

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

Robert Frost

The Pursuit of Happiness

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

Guillaume Apollinaire

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.

James Oppenheim

The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment.

Doug Larson

There is no way to happiness — happiness is the way.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness is where we find it, but very rarely where we seek it.

J. Petit Senn

As people spin faster and faster in the pursuit of merely personal happiness, they become exhausted in the futile effort of chasing themselves.

Andrew Delbanco

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Albert Schweitzer

Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers’ gardens.

Douglas Jerrold

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

Epictetus

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

Jim Rohn

Happiness is always the serendipitous result of looking for something else.

Dr. Idel Dreimer

Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place. But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.

E.L. Konigsburg

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

Robert A. Heinlein

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

The secret ingredients to true happiness? Decisive optimism and personal responsibility.

Amy Leigh Mercree

People should find happiness in the little things, like family.

Amanda Bynes

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

Unknown,
commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

Eric Hoffer

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.

George Bernard Shaw

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

Aristotle

My family didn’t have a lot of money, and I’m grateful for that. Money is the longest route to happiness.

Evangeline Lilly

Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.

Gretta Brooker Palmer

True Happiness

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

Victor Hugo

There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.

George Sand

All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.

Baruch Spinoza

Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad.

Norm Papernick

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

Hosea Ballou

It’s the moments that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that have given me true happiness.

Richard Branson

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind.

Buddha

The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.

Chuck Palahniuk

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.

Epictetus

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

Frederick Keonig

In my life I’ve learned that true happiness comes from giving. Helping others along the way makes you evaluate who you are. I think that love is what we’re all searching for. I haven’t come across anyone who didn’t become a better person through love.

Marla Gibbs

True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Helen Keller

Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.

Benjamin Franklin

So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

Hunter S. Thompson

The true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

William Morris

Real happiness is not of temporary enjoyment, but is so interwoven with the future that it blesses for ever.

James Lendall Basford

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Helen Keller

Happiness is the default state. It’s what’s there when you remove the sense that something is missing in life.

Naval Ravikant

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Joseph Addison

Happiness is a constant work-in-progress, because solving problems is a constant work-in-progress – the solutions to today’s problems will lay the foundation for tomorrow’s problems, and so on. True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.

Mark Manson

Happy Quotes

We hear and use the word “happy” a lot, but being happy is more than just a wish or greeting. Happy is a state of mind that we can choose and cultivate.

More important, we can share happy words and thoughts with others once we have it ourselves. These quotes about being happy will help you do just that!

So be happy and see how good it feels when those around you are happier too.

If being happy is a challenge, check out these 15 Simple Things To Do To Be Happier Today.

Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so.

John Stuart Mill

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust

One joy scatters a hundred griefs.

Chinese Proverb

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

Carl Jung

It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.

L.M. Montgomery,
Anne of Green Gables

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.

Unknown

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

Mother Teresa

Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one’s self?

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.

Lucille Ball

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.

Abraham Lincoln

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

Walter Savage Landor

It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.

Dale Carnegie

I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.

Richard Bach

The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not.

George Bernard Shaw

Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.

George Bernard Shaw

Happy girls are the prettiest.

Audrey Hepburn

When you’re happy you find pure joy in your life. There are no regrets in this state of happiness – and that’s a goal worth striving for in all areas of your life.

Suze Orman

If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day.

W. Beran Wolfe

Quotes about Being Happy

The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.

Robert Louis Stevenson

I think the key to life is just being a happy person, and happiness will bring you success.

Diego Val

Most people would rather be certain they’re miserable, than risk being happy.

Robert Anthony

There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human—in not having to be just happy or just sad—in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.

C. JoyBell C.

Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances

 J. Donald Walters

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.

Anne Frank

It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.

Dale Carnegie

People are unhappy when they get something too easily. You have to sweat – that’s the only moral they know.

Dany Laferrière

You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.

Epicurus

I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.

Jane Austen,
Pride and Prejudice

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means – either may do – the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.

Benjamin Franklin

Most people would rather be certain they’re miserable, than risk being happy.

Robert Anthony

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.

Logan Pearsall Smith

Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations.

Tom Brady

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind.

John Stuart Mill

Happiness is the experience of loving life. Being happy is being in love with that momentary experience. And love is looking at someone or even something and seeing the absolute best in him/her or it. Love is happiness with what you see. So love and happiness really are the same thing… just expressed differently.

Robert McPhillips

Be Happy Quotes

Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.

William E. Gladstone

You can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes.

Lauren Oliver

Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.

Cynthia Nelms

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future.

Earl Nightingale

Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.

Roy T. Bennett

Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Love everything, you will be happiest.

Sri Chinmoy

You do the right thing even if it makes you feel bad. The purpose of life is not to be happy but to be worthy of happiness.

Tracy Kidder

Research has shown that the best way to be happy is to make each day happy.

Deepak Chopra

Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.

Jim Rohn

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

Andrew Carnegie

How simple it is to see that we can only be happy now, and there will never be a time when it is not now.

Gerald Jampolsky

If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

Most of us believe in trying to make other people happy only if they can be happy in ways which we approve.

Robert S. Lynd

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Dalai Lama

To be happy, you must fancy that everything you have is a gift, and you the chosen, though you worked your tail off for every bit of it.

Robert Brault

We cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.

Thomas Merton

Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness.

Ayn Rand

If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.

Edith Wharton

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

Albert Camus

Be happy with what you have. Be excited about what you want.

Alan Cohen

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.

St. Augustine

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

Omar Khayyam

If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap. If you want happiness for a day – go fishing. If you want happiness for a month – get married. If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.

Chinese Proverb

Feeling Happy Quotes

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

Marcus Aurelius

Cheerfulness is what greases the axles of the world. Don’t go through life creaking.

H.W. Byles

Many things can make you miserable for weeks; few can bring you a whole day of happiness.

Mignon McLaughlin

Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.

Mark Twain

Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic objects or material goods in fact seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.

Alain De Botton

On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.

William R. Inge

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.

Barbara DeAngelis

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

Bertrand Russell

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.

William Feather

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Mark Twain

I have only two kinds of days: happy and hysterically happy.

Allen J. Lefferdink

Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone.

Sigmund Freud

On a deeper level you are already complete. When you realize that, there is a playful, joyous energy behind what you do.

Eckhart Tolle

There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.

Anthony de Mello

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.

James M. Barrie

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.

Morris West

We hope these happiness quotes lifted your mood and brightened your day. Share them with your friends to keep the good vibes spreading and choose to be happier today.

Being happy makes life better and more enjoyable, even when we have to make changes along the way.

If you still need a boost to be happier, check out 30 things you need to let go of to find happiness and start taking steps toward a happier life.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking “I just need ____ and then my life will be so much better“?

If so, you definitely aren’t alone—but the hard truth is if you don’t know how to be happy with what you have, then it’s unlikely that anything you can buy will make you any happier.

Of course, you need the basics like food, shelter, etc. but science has shown that after $75,000 a year (in the US) money doesn’t make us any happier.

And even if your household’s income is below that threshold, odds are that buying a new sweater or another dinnerware set isn’t going to bring you much long-term joy. Instead, buying stuff you don’t really need will only lead to less money and more stress overall.

I know this probably isn’t news to you—deep down I’m sure you already know that a new purchase isn’t really going to make you happy. The problem is how to overcome this belief in the present moment when you’re overwhelmed with the urge for something new.

How can you stop wanting more and genuinely feel happy with what you already have?

I struggled with this for years and it’s what kept me stuck when I first started exploring a minimalist lifestyle. My brain knew that I didn’t need anything else but I still couldn’t shake the feeling of constantly wanting more.

Fortunately, I was eventually able to overcome this hurdle and I’ve been living as a minimalist for nearly a decade now. Here’s what I’ve learned about being happy with what you have and how to genuinely stop wanting more.

Note: I wrote this post specifically about being satisfied with your physical “stuff” — but to be honest, most of this advice easily applies to any area of life where you feel like you need “more” to be happy.

“I Don’t Know Why I Want More”

The first step to wanting less and being happy with what you have is to understand where these urges come from.

There are usually some common threads—feelings of insecurity, a struggle with comparisons, and deeply held beliefs about success—but ultimately, you need to understand what makes YOU tick.

The way to do this is by paying attention to your urges.

Don’t judge yourself—instead, be curious. What happened right before you began wanting more?

• Was it a shop display or an advertisement?
• Was it something you saw on social media?
• Was it a conversation with a friend?

Also, what were you feeling? Happy, sad, anxious, nervous, afraid?

Again, don’t judge your feelings as good or bad. Instead, just pay attention and ideally, record your observations somewhere.

Also, whether you act on your urge or not, take note of how you feel afterwards. If you bought something new, did it feel good? (And if so, how long did that good feeling last?) And if it didn’t make you feel good, how did it make you feel?

Alternatively, if you didn’t buy anything new take notes about those feelings. Did the urge eventually go away? If so, how long did it take?

Trying doing this for a few weeks and see what you discover.

Rewrite The Stories You Tell Yourself

Once you’ve spent a few weeks observing yourself and your urges, the next step is to look at the stories you tell yourself.

What do you believe will happen when you buy something new?

This isn’t always immediately obvious, which is why I recommend recording your feelings for a few weeks. However, once you start to see your stories, it’s hard to unsee them!

For example, here are a few of the stories I used to tell myself:

• You’re not very pretty but if you dress in the latest fashion, people won’t notice.
• You’re not very successful but if you keep buying new things, people will think you are.
• Buying new things is a great way of taking care of myself when I’ve hard a hard day.

I know these stories aren’t true but at the time, I let myself believe them. Even though they weren’t necessarily kind, they felt comfortable—like a well-worn blanket—because I’d been telling them for so long.   

However, I knew that if I wanted to change then I had to challenge my stories and you do too. Which of your own stories fuel your constant need for more and how can you consciously begin re-writing these stories?

How can you disprove these stories? And what stories should you be telling instead? This is an opportunity for you to rewrite your life on your terms so choose wisely.

Tip: Once you’ve re-written your stories, repeat them until you believe in them. Jouraling is a great tool to help you create this new belief.

Practice Gratitude Regularly

If you want to feel happy with what you have, then another tip is to practice gratitude regularly. The simplest way to do this is by writing a daily gratitude list and there are a few options:

If you feel the urge to buy something new, try feeling gratitude specifically for similar items that you already have. For example, if you want to buy new shoes, write a list of reasons why you’re grateful for your current shoe collection.

Alternatively, you could practice gratitude for things you don’t have. Write them down and be specific about why you’re grateful (keeping in mind the true cost of any new purchase—time, money, space and energy!).

Try using this prompt: “I’m grateful I didn’t buy ____ because it would have meant giving up ____.”

This will help you reframe your decision not to buy as a positive choice instead of a negative. You’re not “giving up” on something new; instead, you are choosing to have more of what really matters to you.

Normalise Living With Less

Have you ever noticed that what you consider to be “normal” can change with time?

A common example of this is lifestyle creep—as your income increases, previous luxuries become necessities. You get used to having more and more until you can’t remember how it used to feel to have less.

This is definitely one reason why you might struggle to feel satisfied with what you have but the good news is you can reverse lifestyle creep.

If you gradually start buying less and less new things, this will eventually become your new normal. In fact, as a reformed shopaholic, I can absolutely confirm that eventually wanting more will start to feel strange! You can definitely normalise living with less.

In addition, it’s also worth mentioning that our beliefs about what’s “normal” are undoubtedly shaped by what we see around us: what our friends and family believe, as well as what we see on TV, in magazines or on social media.

You can use this to your advantage. If you want to be happy with what you have, try surrounding yourself with people who are happy with what they have. There’s a good chance it might rub off on you.

Resist Instant Gratification

Another thing that’s important to mention is that learning to want less is in a sense, learning a new skill (especially in the early days).

Eventually, once you’ve re-written your story, started practising gratitude, and surrounded yourself with like-minded thinkers, you’ll naturally start wanting less.

BUT until that kicks in, you’re going to need to learn how to resist instant gratification—and admittedly, this will be hard at first. Most of us are very used to getting what we want and when we want it.

Think about it—twenty years ago, if you wanted something new, you had to want it enough to get dressed, drive across town, go into a shop, find your item, and then stand in line for a cashier.

This meant there was time and physical distance between yourself and your desired item. Sometimes this space was enough for you to recognise your urge for what it was—often a reaction to some sort of trigger—and you’d decide not to follow through with your purchase.

Today on the other hand, if you feel the urge for something new, you can be on your phone and buy it within minutes. There’s no space to think through your actions. Instead, it’s like a twitch and you can easily spend hundreds of dollars without even realising it.

Resisting this twitch is going to take practice and repetition, so start small. Next time you feel an urge—even for something small like a takeaway coffee—try resisting.

It probably won’t feel great but if you keep it up, you’ll build up your resistance and you’ll get better at saying “no” when it really matters.

Remind Yourself What Matters Most

Finally, one of the keys to feeling happy with what you have and not wanting more is to remind yourself what matters most.

• What are your values and priorities?
• What are your big dreams?
• What makes you feel alive?

Focus on the answer to these questions next time you’re struggling with the urge for “more” and see how it changes your perspective. You might find that the latest handbag—or even a promotion at work—don’t matter as much as you think it does.

If you need any help clarifying what matters (or perhaps, more importantly, making these things a priority in your life) then to be sure to check out my signature course Values + Vision and learn how to align your life with what matters most.

Don’t just think about the things that matter most—make sure you do more of what matters too. Remember, sometimes it’s the little joys in life like a hot cup of coffee, a good book, or a long hug that make it all worthwhile!

More Resources to Help You Feel Happy With What You Have

The following resources will help you find more joy and ease in your life—exactly where you are right now.

• 15 Simple Ways to Make Life Easier — Are you looking for ways to make life easier? Here are 15 simple ideas that will help you find more ease and joy every day.
• How to Turn Around a Bad Day —  Bad days are inevitable but how we react is up to us. We can choose to give in to the negative voices in our heads or we can take steps to turn things around.
• 10 Ways To Slow Down a Busy Day — Sometimes life feels out of control, time gets away from me, and I feel overwhelmed, anxious and stressed. When this happens, these simple acts help me shift gears so I can feel calm and more at ease in my everyday life.
• 5 Ways to Be Kinder to Yourself —  There are, of course, countless ways to be kinder to yourself; these are simply a few that have been particularly powerful. What’s really important is self-compassion: withholding judgement, accepting ourselves as imperfect, and being mindful of our expectations.
• 4 Ways to Stop Letting Little Things Bother You —  Do you ever have one of those days when life’s little annoyances get to you more than they should. If so, here are four ways to stop letting the little things bother you.

What are your top tips for wanting less and being content with what you have? Or is this is hard for you, what’s your biggest struggle? Let me know in the comments! x

Quotes tagged as «be-happy-with-what-you-have»
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