Life isn’t always the sweetest candy. Sometimes, the world can feel like it is just too heavy. Before I began down my new path with LifePath Unlimited I often got into this way of thinking. Whenever you start to feel that way it is so easy to look around at other people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives and wonder “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?”

What I learned by going through the LifePath Unlimited Discovery course is if you pause and observed for awhile… you’ll start to notice that they all work on themselves and becoming the best that they can be.

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to love yourself.

In order to love yourself you have to accept yourself for where and who you currently are. To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections lies a great ounce of courage that allows you to discover ways to improve yourself and recover from your mistakes. As Jim Bunch taught at the LifePath Unlimited Breakthrough III, “The Game Is Always ON!”

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are content with the job or business you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.” Now does this contentment mean that you go about letting life happen to you? No, what it really means is that you are grateful for all the abundance that you have in your life (however great or small it might be) and that you continue to improve each day.

If you keep questioning life you will never be able to find genuine happiness. If you can focus on the positive you will egnite a small start somewhere from within; that small flame will eventually lead to something else, and to something else.

I believe life is finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy. Rather it should allow us to learn and inspire us to grow.

So how do you begin on this LifePath of genuine happiness in spite of all these challenges? I’ll tell you… every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.

Imagine life as a big score board, every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. So when you look at that board at the end of each gameday, think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.” It’s far better than the alternative – look at it and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.

Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest new car, nor getting the employee of the year award, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life don’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best. Every one has their own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as many best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire. You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.

When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.

Again, remember – “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pains. But most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self. Coz then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”