THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY HAPPY PEOPLE

“Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.” Stephen R. CoveyHappiness is the natural result of habitually living and thinking in certain ways. As amatter of fact, happiness is something that is quite predictable for almost all people(those with chemical imbalances, for instance, may be excluded) as we develop certainhabits of thought, belief, action and character.This post highlights some of the most important habits of happiness (7 of them, in fact)and acts as a tribute to the work of the personal-development icon, Stephen R. Covey,who recently passed away. His most famous work, The 7 Habits of Highly EffectivePeople has impacted a culture.This is my play on the title of his seminal work THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY HAPPYPEOPLESome people are unhappy. Others are mildly or moderately happy. Some are even prettyhappy. The following, however, are those principles that produce highly happy people.HABIT #1: THINKHighly happy people are possibility and opportunity thinkers. They see the large pictureand focus on the immediate steps that lead to the life they imagine. They refuse to dwellon doom and gloom “what-if” thinking.They think imaginatively, picturing in their mind’s eye the life they want to live, theperson they want to be, the way they want to serve, the meaning they want to impart, thefamily they want to raise, the relationships they want to enjoy.Their lives are extensions of their vision, of both the way they think and ofwhat they think about most of the time.People who live highly happy lives are people who have mastered their thoughts, whoare not buffeted by ugly, critical, whiny, self-defeating ways of thinking. They don’t

harbor grudges or replay old wounds or failures over and over again in their minds,except to learn the lessons embedded in them.They focus their thoughts on the uplifting and inspiring, keeping them largely free ofgutter-think and negativity, prejudice and debilitating fear.HABIT #2: GROWHighly happy people don’t lop-side their lives by focusing exclusively on fun or work ormoney or sports. They know that pounding a single note in life will createabout as much happiness as pounding a single key on the piano will createmusic.So they spend time growing in all significant compartments of life, recognizing theexponential growth to their happiness when synergistic growth occurs between each ofthe major areas of living. Highly happy people are therefore dedicated to personalgrowth in at least these 6 areas:Mind: They work to develop their minds by reading good books, challenging theirthinking, working at developing insight and wisdom and cultivating intelligence andbuilding a storehouse of knowledge. They have a passion for learning and spend timeand resources on its pursuit.Body: The happiest people are not slaves to a self-limited body. They are not slaves tothe appetites of the flesh. They don’t abuse the vehicle of their mind and spirit by fillingit with garbage. They respect it as they would a temple. And so they eat good food andexercise regularly and avoid the poison of addictive substances.Spirit: These people are keenly aware that they are more than mere bodies though.They recognize a higher sphere and look to feed that part of their lives that is in tunewith the infinite. They read from scripture and other inspiring works. They fill theirminds with uplifting ideas. They serve and bless others. They meditate and pray andconnect to spiritual things.Character: Happy people know their integrity to high values is more important thanany earthly reward they could otherwise compromise character to attain. And so theyconstantly work on the foundation of their lives, the reputation and legacy their

characters will create. They know their character is at the core of who they are and thatby doing work there, all other parts of their lives will be positively affected.Relationships: Because relationships are crucial to highly happy people, theyprioritize them. In fact, they believe there is nothing more important than the work theydo to build trusting relationships with family and friends.Talents/Skills: Highly happy people know they are capable of great things. They knowthere is music and poetry and novels and skyscrapers and bridges and healing andimprovement waiting inside to be pulled to the outside.And so they try new things and develop new habits by replacing old bad ones with newgood ones. They strengthen strengths and weaken weaknesses and share the talents theywork hard to develop, not out of boastful showmanship, but as a humble steward ofGod-given and God-inspired abilities others can benefit from seeing and learning about or, frankly, just for the fun of it!HABIT #3: LOVEHighly happy people love life. They love others and themselves too. They accept thetruism that their love for others is limited by their capacity for self-love.Highly happy people love truth and nature and beauty. They love their faith and humandecency. They live lives of passion because they are passionate about so much that lifeprovides.They love learning and growing and experiencing all life has to offer. Their passion is anextension of the love and appreciation they have for living a life of meaning andpurpose.HABIT #4: EXPRESSHighly happy people express their appreciation for all that fills life. They are grateful forthe little things most people take for granted and for the big things as well. They expressgratitude for acts of kindness and for the challenges that help build their charactermuscles.

They believe their thoughts and ideas are important enough to express them. They arenot intimidated into silence but are not verbal bullies either. They express their interestin others and express their desire to learn from them.They freely express earned praise and encouragement and forgiveness. They are notafraid to express their more tender and emotional sides because theirinsides are securely centered on universal principles of character.So their expressions are honest, forthright, true, authentic, but respectful, honorable,decent, thoughtful and reflect a soul unencumbered by the fears and anxieties lesshappy people are bogged down by.HABIT #5: CHOOSEHighly happy people are not rudderless ships tossed about on the seas of public opinionor knocked about by the waves of circumstance or the winds of history. Rather, they areself-directed and pro-active. They choose their life’s direction. They choose theirthoughts and beliefs and hopes and dreams.They also choose their emotional responses to life by choosing the thoughts,beliefs and attitudes that create them.They are not victims to outside circumstance and accept responsibility for the lives theylive. They don’t blame their pasts or the world or God or life or the government oranyone or anything else for the conditions of their lives today. That’s not to say theyblame themselves for every obstacle they encounter, but they do acceptresponsibility for doing something about the obstacles once they encounterthem.Highly happy people know they are the products of their choices and so make themdecisively but carefully and with an attitude that nonetheless allows for flexibility tochange plans, direction or timelines as needed.HABIT #6: DO

Highly happy people act. They spend significant amounts of time doing what mattersmost. They don’t sit around and excessively watch other people live pretended lives onTV. They don’t have the time, even if they had the inclination.Instead, they take action on plans and goals and ideas and dreams. They playand work and try new things and go to new places. They pick up hobbies and interestsand expand their lives and experiences accordingly.They do those things that add passion and purpose and meaning to their lives. Theyvolunteer and serve and bless and do. They truly live life as the verb it was meantto be.HABIT #7: ACCEPTHighly happy people are accepting. They accept others as they are while they work totrain and inspire them to be more. They accept themselves and their imperfections whilethey work to make them less pronounced. They accept the conditions of life as theydedicate themselves to the work of changing the conditions they have otherwiseaccepted.In other words, they are committed to growth and improvement on all levels, whileaccepting of their shortcomings as they are right now along the path of growth andimprovement. They are works-in-progress seeing the obvious that it’s okay tobe broken at the beginning of a project, just not at the end.And so they live their lives as an on-going self-improvement project, recognizing areasof needed improvement without condemning themselves (or others) for needingimproving.AFTERTHOUGHTS“ there are basic principles of effective living, and people can onlyexperience true success and enduring happiness as they learn andintegrate these principles into their basic character.” Stephen R. Covey

Happiness, then, is the predictable outcome of those principles that create it. We chooseto apply those principles or to read them passively, brushing them aside as impracticalor simplistic or impossible.But ultimately, the happiness we live is the happiness we choose as thenatural byproduct of the principles we embody.So choose today to grow, love, express, choose, do and accept your way to a life ofincredible happiness as we pause to tip our hats to a man who dedicated his life tohuman potential.

habits of thought, belief, action and character. This post highlights some of the most important habits of happiness (7 of them, in fact) and acts as a tribute to the work of the personal-development icon, Stephen R. Covey, who recently passed away. His most famous work, The 7 Habits