Can happiness be taught?

Happiness is a feeling that many of us are searching to feel multiple times a day if possible.  Some people struggle to find things that ignite happiness and thus need help being taught how to trigger happiness.  To be taught happiness, you will need to be consistent with the practices that ignite happiness.  If you are inconsistent with whatever practices help you feel happy, you will be less likely to learn the skill and keep going.  On that note, a new skill of any kind takes time to learn, so make sure to affirm that and not expect instant changes.  For example, someone does not learn the skill of riding a bike in one sitting, but rather over several practices and even failure moments before they feel like they have really learned the skill.  That same type of learning process will be needed to learn to be happy fully.

It is extra helpful if someone is taught from an early age to practice happiness.  The practices we learn in our formative years of life stick with us for quite some time, so someone taught in those formative years to practice happiness will have an easier time with it in their adult years.  As you learn to practice being happy, make sure to teach yourself to pick up on the small and big things.  For example, it is great to pick up on big things, such as a vacation that brings you happiness, but a vacation is not very accessible for many of us.  Therefore, picking up on small things, such as a song or favorite food, can help there be a balance of things that trigger happiness.

As you teach yourself to be happy, make sure to be realistic about it.  Even while practicing happiness, there will, of course, be some negatives in life.  That does not mean that you have failed or that happiness is not achievable.  The negatives are just a natural part of life, but the negatives can be so much easier to cope with if you are practicing picking up on the happy things.