Are you happy? Most people will say no. Find out how to live happier without having to win the lottery.

Happiness is an ambiguous concept. From the Greek philosophers and in every world culture, people have tried to determine how to be happy. In this article, I don’t want to do the same as everyone, they giving you common sense tips. What I will like to try is to help you uncover your own way to be happier and change your life.

We have to start with what you think these happiness. Is it to have a smile on your face every day at every hour? Is it to have the perfect life? And what is the perfect life? To be realistic, I think happiness has been defined by the media. We see beautiful, rich and extroverted people in TV and movies, who seemed to show us what is happiness about and how to live happy. However, you have to understand that this is not real. They are just actors playing a role. Offstage, they may be more miserable than an African child with nothing to eat.

Most interesting, is to find out what happy people do. According to studies, Denmark is the happiest country in the world. BusinessWeek says this:

• Denmark
• Population: 5.5 million
• Life Expectancy: 77.8 years
• GDP Per Capita: $34,600

With a high standard of living, negligible poverty, and a broad range of public and social services, it’s easy to see why Denmark tops the happiness map. There’s a high level of education; public schools are top-quality and private ones are affordable. The low population gives the nation a strong sense of identity. And Denmark’s physical beauty forms a great backdrop to daily life. The weather is a bit tough, though.

However, here is an interesting idea. In all the countries in the world, Bhutan is the number eight in this ranking. Here’s a little information about it:

• Bhutan
• Population: 2.3 million
• Life Expectancy: 55 years
• GDP Per Capita: $1,400

The small Asian nation of Bhutan ranks eighth in the world, despite relatively low life expectancy, a literacy rate of just 47%, and a very low GDP per capita. Why? Researchers credit an unusually strong sense of national identity. Plus, the country has beautiful scenery and a largely unspoiled culture, thanks to strict governmental limits on tourism, development, and immigration. Pretty counterintuitive, but Bhutan seems to have found a recipe for happiness.

Do you see what they have in common? Both of them have a strong sense of national identity. These means, they love their country. By love, I mean they are not so negative with the current state of the country, and they are very positive in the way they see living on it.  Overcoming depression is easy for them, because there is no reason to feel depress.

They accept what they were given, and enjoy it. The food, the weather, their quality of life, their education. They are not complaining, like everybody else in the world, about every single problem. Just read one newspaper in the US, then you will understand it.

My point here, it is a culture and environment affect the way you feel and your concept of happiness. But don’t think that, because there are external elements that affect your happiness, you can’t be happy. What you need to realize, is that you have the power to change your life. If culture and identity are big factors, then we need to change them. The meaning of identity is the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known. So it is on your individual characteristics that you have the ability to be happier.

Change is a process which requires three elements: motivation, tools and education. To change what characterize you (I mean, the individual characteristics), you need to work on these three elements, based on the purpose of being happy. I will write more about this, since it is such an interesting topic and most important to life. Joining the change your life phenomenon to get the updates of new articles.

image credit: lepiaf.geo

About the Author

Anton Cela is a self development author and consultant. Phillip Cela is a recognized university teacher and speaker on motivation, leadership and self help. Find more about their work on “The Change Your Life Phenomenon”, a world-wide-movement to help people change their lifes at Change Your Life Phenomenon.com You can send us an email or follow “The CHYL Phenomenon” on Twitter.