Life happiness is not the same as life satisfaction. While happiness is a desirable emotion it is temporal and fleeting, much like a light bulb that can be turned on and off as often as one chooses..

Life satisfaction, however, is a constant state of belief. Once the conditions for it are understood and accepted, life satisfaction (unlike happiness) is not dependent on one’s changing moods or circumstances. It would then follow that life satisfaction is a more worthy pursuit, that once achieved it would support more opportunities for life happiness.

So how does one bring this to the forefront of our set of self-beliefs? Life satisfaction is a conscious choice and emerges once we adopt the following attitudes and perceptions:

• Accepting who we are rather than what others expect us to be.
• Recognizing that life is good regardless of its difficulties and obstacles.
• Acceptance of change as the natural order of our evolving life.
• Maintaining faith in ourselves and the divine order of life.
• Connecting with our authentic and genuine self.
• Being aware of our unique and inherent purpose.
• Being attentive and responsive to our core values.
• Awakening to life’s grace and the beauty that surrounds us.
• Manifesting our life meaning by sharing our talents and gifts with others.
• Being confident that our life has great significance which we alone direct and control.
• Living mindfully “in the now” rather than lamenting the past or worrying about the future.

Again, life happiness cannot exist without first having a broader feeling of life satisfaction.  By focusing on these conditions for life satisfaction while maintaining a positive outlook, we can then create infinite opportunities for life happiness. In other words, focus on life satisfaction first . . .  happiness will then follow.