How to Be Happy: 'Happiness Comes from Experience'

The top image is a 'periwinkle'.
Its flower language is 'pleasant memories'.

Why did you feel a certain event was enjoyable?
That cannot be explained by logic alone.

Because you actually experienced it,
your heart was moved, and meaning was born.

It is not limited to special events,
but may be the accumulation of small experiences.

However, each one becomes a 'pleasant memory',
and shapes your happiness.

This time, we will think about how experiencing things
connects to happiness.

You cannot understand happiness you haven't experienced

No matter how rationally you think about things,
you cannot fully understand the true value of
something you have not experienced.

Even if you can imagine it in your head,
it is ultimately nothing more than
'a combination of things you already know'.
For example,

the warmth of sharing a table with someone,
the sense of fulfillment after finishing a job,
or the peace felt when touching a child's smile,
all of these can be explained in words.
However,

what you feel when you actually experience that moment
cannot be contained within an explanation.

There is a realm that logic cannot reach

To borrow a little from philosophy,
there is a way of thinking that says people can only grasp
'the value of reality' through experience.
In other words,

no matter how much logic you stack up,
you cannot 'truly understand' happiness you haven't experienced.
And at the same time,
it is difficult to come to feel happiness you haven't experienced

just by thinking about it.
That is why,
what is necessary to become happy

is not just 'changing how you think',
but 'broadening the range of your experiences'.

Small experiences become the gateway to happiness

What is important here is that
you don't have to chase only big happiness.
Special trips or

great successes are not the only happiness.
・Try walking a different path than usual

・Savor your meal a little more carefully
・Try expressing gratitude to someone
・Try taking on a small new challenge
Each of these things

becomes a gateway to touching a kind of
'happiness' you didn't know before.

Memories become assets

And interestingly,
once you have experienced happiness,
you will be able to feel it
'just by remembering it' from then on.

Just like the periwinkle's flower language,
'pleasant memories' become assets
that support you later on.

Increase the number of times you encounter happiness

What kind of happiness suits you
cannot be found just by thinking about it.

That is why,
you should experience things, even if it's just a little bit.

If it doesn't suit you, you can just stop,
and if you find something that does,
you should cherish it.

Happiness is something you choose,
but at the same time, it is also 'something you encounter'.

Increase the number of those encounters.
As a result, that will deepen
the happiness for yourself.

If there is something you haven't experienced yet,
why not gather a little courage
and take a step forward?

Even if that step is small,
it will become a trigger to encounter
emotions and scenery you didn't know before.

Those encounters will surely lead to
future 'pleasant memories',
and to happiness.

A book that influenced me in writing this article

'The Conquest of Happiness' by Bertrand Russell

Happiness is
not something that is completed only in your head.
It is something that gradually takes shape
through interactions with people and actions.

This book teaches us how to build happiness
not just as a 'way of thinking',
but as an actual way of living.

It is a book that shows the meaning of taking a step forward
to encounter happiness you haven't experienced yet.

I have also summarized other flowers of 'how to be happy'
at the link below.
Please take as much as you need🍀

Thank you very much for reading until the end.
I hope to see you in another article.
🍀May you be happy🍀