Contribution is the key to a joyful life

​Happiness doesn't require a job change, a new home, or a different partner.

I call those kinds of changes "pulling a geographical". You are changing location - but you can't outrun yourself. Wherever you go, whomever you are with, wherever you work, YOU will still be there (with all the same misery).

The reason pulling a geographical feels like it works, and thus, why we keep doing it, is because for a blissful moment we have defined a purpose, something important to do that is Going To Make Things Better...we hope.

But once the outer change is made, and the shiny newness fades, we are right back where we started.

Sigh.

Making a big change feels like jumping off the hamster wheel of suck, but it's more like just painting the wheel a new color, and pointing it at a different view. It's still going nowhere.

Q:  So what's the solution, then, Miss Smarty Pants?
A:  The key to happiness lies in consistently doing something that feels important to YOU.

Contribution.
Making a difference to yourself or others, using whatever skills and gifts you have at your disposal. Learn something new. Help someone. Make the world a better place.

Don't make it more complicated than it has to be.

Do you love animals, and like to take pictures? Photograph pets who need homes at the local animal shelter, and post them online. Or walk the dog for (or with) your elderly neighbor.
Write an anonymous thank you note to someone whose flower garden makes you smile every time you pass by.

Take a sack lunch -or gourmet meal, if cooking is your thing- to the homeless person you always see around.

Do something that makes you feel like you are contributing to the joy and well-being of others at least once a week, and watch how it changes your life.