What does it mean to pursue happiness?

From committing to giving back to prioritizing a sense of satisfaction, here are the 15 answers to the question, “What does it mean for you to pursue happiness?”

• Commit to Giving Back
• Accept Without Surrender
• Pursue Happiness in the Moment
• Live According to Your Values
• Take a Proactive Approach
• Prioritize Harmony
• Strive for Fulfillment
• Follow Your Heart and Not the Money
• Avoid Regretting Past Decisions
• Do Enjoyable Work
• Be Authentic and Trust Yourself
• Keep Things Realistic
• Find Your Purpose in Life
• Achieve Inner Peace
• Search for Lasting Satisfaction

Commit to Giving Back

For me, a life of happiness comes from a lifelong commitment to giving back and contributing to causes bigger than myself in any way I can.

As a business leader, it’s my responsibility to ensure that my company is doing its part and creating meaningful impacts in our community. We focus not only on the bottom line of our business operations, but also on making sure we are giving back to those around us. I believe strongly that when we give more than we take, pursuing happiness becomes much easier.

Accept Without Surrender

The road to happiness isn’t always a straight line. Sometimes in your life, you’re going to have to take a detour. That can feel defeating, especially when times are tough.

When a goal that seems within easy reach suddenly becomes unattainable, it can demoralize you into inaction. You can’t let the unforeseen stop you in your tracks, in order to pursue your personal happiness, you have to be willing to push forward on an unfamiliar path.

You may even find that opportunities you never thought possible open up to you when times get tough. Pursuing happiness means accepting that not everything will go your way, but still having the will to persevere and push through until you reach your goals.

Pursue Happiness in the Moment

Pursuing happiness isn’t about “bucket list” types of actions. It’s about building a life that makes me happy day-to-day and at the moment.

It’s about having a job that I enjoy, rather than one that has me looking forward to the weekend. It’s about building a life at home that I don’t need to escape with grand vacations or gestures. Pursuing happiness is about enjoying the little moments of life.

Live According to Your Values

Most people don’t have a clear definition of happiness to guide their decisions. For me, happiness is living life according to your values. My core values include volunteerism, vulnerability, acceptance, and resilience. I’m not perfect in each of these categories, but I’m able to check in on myself periodically to look for gaps.

For example, when I feel beaten down, I know I am not engaging enough in the activities that make me more resilient. I’ll then shift more focus to those activities in my pursuit of happiness.

For work, there is a balance between spending your workday engaged in activities that are aligned with your values and making enough money to give you the freedom to pursue happiness even further. In my case, I’m grateful that the work I do is aligned with my values, mostly because I curate my client list.

Take a Proactive Approach

Contentment and peace of mind are vital components that I strive for, both as an individual and in terms of my relationships with others. To pursue happiness, I focus on bettering myself and achieving my goals each day.

Achieving a balance between work and leisure is also important for me to build a meaningful, satisfying life for myself. Taking time off from the hustle and bustle during the week helps me to stay centered, grateful and well-grounded.

I am focused on creating habits such as meditation, regular exercise, and nourishing meals in order to maintain a sense of well-being throughout my journey toward happiness.

Prioritize Harmony

Pursuing happiness is a wrong phrase. To pursue is to search, find out, follow, and run after. I believe that happiness comes from within and that it’s more important to find peace and contentment in what we have than always to be chasing after something new.

It means understanding the nature of life and how to live in harmony with that knowledge. It’s about living daily with a sense of purpose and joy and knowing that even though hardships may come, happiness is always possible if you’re willing to look for it within.

And finally, I believe that the happiest people can give back to others selflessly and without expectation.

Strive for Fulfillment

Happiness is something that comes and goes. The more you measure it, the less of it you have. But true fulfillment, although much harder to achieve, lasts and is something worth striving for.

When I pursue business goals with an eye toward making the world a better place, I’m left feeling more fulfilled than if I just focused on the money or power that can come along with those pursuits.

Follow Your Heart and Not the Money

Doing something that is not attached to you is getting something else rather than happiness. Do we keep our jobs to pursue happiness? And before you say it, no, money is not happiness. If the reason you are at your job is mainly because of money, you are not pursuing happiness, but money. Pursuing happiness means it doesn’t matter whether or not you’ll get paid, but you’ll still be happy doing whatever it is. Pursuing happiness means putting your emotions first.

Avoid Regretting Past Decisions

For me, it means making choices based on what makes me happy in the present moment and regretting no past decisions. It means being true to myself and my values and not letting others dictate how I should live my life. It also means being content with what I have and not chasing after things that may never bring me true happiness. Happiness is a personal journey that requires courage and self-awareness. It’s about being open to change and exploring new possibilities, even when things get tough.

Do Enjoyable Work

Family life matters most, but you spend most of your waking day at your job. You need some happiness in that part of your life.

It can’t be a grind. It shouldn’t involve you working for someone you dislike or don’t respect. “Do what you love” is good advice, but it’s just as important to go where you’re appreciated.

Don’t let your work be the source of most of your life’s stress. If it is, it’s time for a change. It’s time to pursue happiness through work. Find a place that’s part of a sound industry, surround yourself with good people, and make sure you’re working for a considerate boss and a company that compensates you properly.

So it’s not just about doing what you love, it’s working for a company that you love.

Be Authentic and Trust Yourself

Pursuing happiness means something different to each individual, but if I can be fully authentic to myself and my values, then I’m on my way to experiencing pure happiness. Not listening to all the outside noise and trusting myself to make the right decisions for me are key. There’s nothing more fulfilling than knowing you can simply be yourself.

Keep Things Realistic

The trouble with happiness is that we all seek it in different ways. Some see sex as the be-all and end of all life, while others are very much into their work and earning money.

A mother might be obsessed with being with her children and a young woman might live and breathe for dating, falling in love, and dreaming of getting married.To pursue happiness means to make efforts to get the thing(s) that make us happy!Sometimes those things are easy and quick to achieve, we achieve them and then move on to another goal, but some people make the mistake of chasing after fantasies that can never happen, such as writing to a famous and very rich film star asking to marry them.To pursue happiness is great so long as it is a realistic goal, otherwise, we soon become hopeless and beaten, feeling worse than before! As a life coach, I help people to pursue happiness as they see it—if they see it realistically.

Find Your Purpose in Life

Pursuing happiness means finding your purpose in life. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your passion? They always say you won’t work a day in your life if you’re doing what you love. Once you find what that is, you’ll quickly find enjoyment in the little things. At that point, you’re pursuing happiness.

Achieve Inner Peace

To me, pursuing happiness is about reaching harmony with yourself and finding inner peace. It applies to all areas of life. The better you know yourself with your strengths and weaknesses, the more valuable relationships you build.

Also, it gives you the power to think independently and make informed decisions. I also believe that accepting things that cannot be changed plays a vital role in feeling happy and proud of who we are. After all, happiness and authenticity go hand in hand.

Search for Lasting Satisfaction

Happiness is more than pleasure seeking. While it’s nice to feel good in the short term, the most important element of happiness to me is finding something that keeps me feeling satisfied for a long time.

That could mean achieving a lifelong goal, finding a new hobby, or landing that dream job. Whatever it is, it should provide more than just a momentary buzz. Happiness should be treated as a state of being.

In order to maintain that state, we should surround ourselves with meaningful, long-lasting achievements, whether they be big and grand or small and personal. Finding those things that provide you with long-lasting satisfaction will keep you happy all your life.