Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.
– Mahatma Gandhi
Feeling satisfied with our life and who we are can be particularly hard.
We all tend to have self-esteem issues to some extent, and being dissatisfied with what we have or constantly wanting more is something quite common.
However, the good news is that there are some practical ways to increase that feeling of life satisfaction.
Now you might ask, “Ok, but what is life satisfaction?”
The word satisfaction comes from Latin and it consists of two different words: satis (which means “enough”) and facio (which means to make) – in other words, it means fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations, needs, or the pleasure derived from this.
As a result, life satisfaction means being truly happy with the life we have and our persona.
There are a few simple, practical ways to increase life satisfaction.
- Fill Your Days
In order to do this, we should let the opening quote of this article inspire us, because it’s through our efforts and the things we consistently do that we can feel truly satisfied.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to fill our days both with our tasks, responsibilities and the things we enjoy the most most.
- Make Friends
Another important point is having a good social life, in fact, according to research, having healthy relationships can boosts life satisfaction by around 20% and optimism by around 30%.
For example, a good way to make new friends is joining local communities through Meetup.com – I find it an incredible way to meet new people with your same hobbies and interests.
Plus, many of these local communities are also good for you if you want to learn and practice foreign languages.
Don’t worry if at first you don’t know anyone, these communities are made of people who will be happy to welcome you and who joined exactly like you: without knowing anyone.
- Have A Dream To Follow
As we mentioned earlier in other articles, having a dream and setting realistic goals to achieve is the best way to make our life exciting, and to have a reason to get up every morning full of energy and motivation.
- Help Others
Through our willingness to help others we can learn to be happy rather than depressed.
Gerald Jampolsky
Doing nice things for others is a powerful way to increase happiness, because giving to others helps us connect with people and meets one of our basic human needs – relatedness.
This way you will feel that you can contribute to others’ happiness, and therefore to others’ life.
- Always Learn Something New
Always desire to learn something useful.
Sophocles
Being actively interested in what surrounds us is important for our personal growth, because knowledge makes us wiser and strengthens our understanding of the world around us.
As a result, constant learning is something that unavoidably increases life satisfaction and self-esteem.
You can learn many different things, for example, a foreign language, a sport, or you can even start to play an instrument. You name it!
References:
Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: the ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. Journal of Positive Psychology