What does permanent happiness look like? The perfect job, perhaps? An enduring marriage? According to Atlanta-based doctor and author Iyabo Ojikutu, authentic, sustainable happiness begins not with external influences, but with creating a sense of peace from within.In Permanent Happiness: The Only Way to Find Peace, Joy, and Your Life-Given Purpose, Dr. Iyabo explains three influential principles for cultivating internal, individual peace. Along the way, she candidly shares her own ups and downs, including the deeply emotional experience that served as the catalyst for the book: the loss of her father.
I had a chance to interview her to learn more.
How do you define "permanent happiness"?
Permanent happiness is Peace. It is the state of being at peace, regardless of what life is throwing our way.
How can people find happiness even in the midst of struggles?
Since life is dynamic, and we can’t control many incidents in our lives, a sure way to find happiness is by focusing on what we can control.
So, in the midst of struggles, list things everyday that you can control. Things that will make your life a little calmer and happier. And things that you can do to make someone else’s life a little calmer and happier.
Life is all about self improvement and improvement of others’ lives. If we can incorporate these two goals in our daily living, then we can find happiness in the midst of struggles.
The 3 steps to happiness I have in my book ‘Permanent Happiness’ are
0. Nourish your spiritual and physical lifelines.
0. Use your gifts to positively influence yourself and to positively influence others.
0. Live by the nine ‘fruit of the spirit.
How does happiness relate to nurturing others?
No one can do life alone. No one is built to do life alone. As listed above in my 3 steps to Permanent Happiness, we have to positively influence ourselves and others in order to find lasting happiness. While nurturing others, even though we are giving something from ourselves to someone else, in the process, we gain so much. We gain the benefits of making someone else’s life better, and we become more content, happier, peaceful and more fulfilled in the process. In other words, life becomes more meaningful as we nurture others.
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