# data[].attributes.body
-state of being happy
-feeling or showing pleasure or contentment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How can you live a happy life when you cannot let go of the past? Instead of focusing on the present, you're caught in a web of lies and only your past mistakes seem to matter. Yet there are many out there who live each day with a happy and positive view on life. Why? Because they are not focusing on the past. Read this guide to learn how you can let go of your past and live a happy life.

Let the emotions flow
"Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness." Steve Maraboli
One mistake many people make is they try to ignore their emotions altogether, which is the worst thing to do. To move forward feel emotions and understand why you are upset in the first place. Let the tears come until you can cry no more, or scream into a pillow until the frustration ebbs away. Let it all out in order to let go of the past and live a happy life.

Read these tips on why it's ok to cry.

Don't let negative thoughts cloud your mind

Allow yourself to express your emotions, but don't dwell on them. Negative thinking is unproductive as it distracts you from the positives in life and makes it harder to let go of the past. Negative thoughts plague your mind with self-sabotaging thoughts, denying you your right to live a happy life.

When a negative thought crosses your mind, steer your mind away from it. Instead, look at the positives you have gained from an experience. Willie Nelson mentions the power of positive thinking perfectly:
"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."
Learn from your experience

Take away the positives from past experiences. By learning from an experience, you learn more about yourself and what makes you happy. Perhaps you discovered you don't like certain activities anymore, or you learned who your true friends were. Now you know not to participate in that activity, or to spend time with your true friends, leaving your toxic friends behind. Use these experiences to your advantage so you can learn more about what makes you happy in life.

Stop being the victim

When you get into the mind-set of the victim, you often find that all your thoughts lead back to past traumas. Your mind becomes plagued by these thoughts and you find yourself thinking that everything always goes wrong for you.

Of course this is not the case at all, because you are in control of your fate. You shouldn't think because you have failed before, you will fail now. Instead, remember that you have control over your life and you don't have to be the victim.

Scroll down to continue reading article

Don't wait for an apology
"True forgiveness is when you can say, 'Thank you for the experience.'" Oprah Winfrey
The best lesson you can learn in life is to forgive and forget. Maybe that other person was in the wrong, that he or she should apologize, but waiting for that apology isn't going to help you. In the end the only one you will hurt is yourself because you aren't letting go of the past.

Focus on moving forward, because what has happened is in the past . You could be waiting an eternity for that apology and wasting your time hung up. Don't let someone else's mistakes stop you from living a happy life.

Expand your view of yourself

You've confronted your past and moved on, so now is the time to avert attention to yourself. This is the time to get to know yourself better, to learn what makes you happy. Go out and take part in new activities, don't be afraid to take risks and learn what experiences you are passionate about. Understanding who you are and what you want out of life will make you happier in the long run.

Forget the past and live in the moment
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." Buddha
One of my all-time favorite sayings is "Live in the moment." It follows the concept that you should live in the present, not in the past. You won't gain anything from looking back at the past, because what has happened cannot be changed. So don't look back at the past, look to the present, the moment you are in now. You won't live this minute again, which is why you should make the most of it. Be present in this very moment by looking around you. Take in what people are saying as well as focusing on yourself and what you are doing.

Finally, leave the past behind you, that has happened and you can't change it. Focus now on the present moment and your own happiness. Choosing to be positive will open you up to a life of happiness.

Featured photo credit: imcookiemonster via flickr.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Reasons Why Materialistic Stuff Doesn't Lead To Happiness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How can you live a happy life when you cannot let go of the past? Instead of focusing on the present, you're caught in a web of lies and only your past mistakes seem to matter. Yet there are many out there who live each day with a happy and positive view on life.

# data[].attributes.headline
People say being silly with their friends makes them happy

# data[].attributes.subject
People say being silly with their friends makes them happy

# data[].attributes.body
" If your mind is at peace, but you have nothing else, you can be happy. If you have everything the world can give - pleasure, possessions, power - but lack peace of mind, you can never be happy"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To be happy means allowing yourself to also be unhappy.

Happiness and unhappiness are two-sides of the same coin. They are inseparable, like up and down, or north and south - one implies the other. If you never felt sad, you would never even know when you felt happy. If you didn't ever feel fear then you would never feel love. Life would just be neutral, lifeless even.

Problems arise, not when we are unhappy, but when we try to deny the unhappiness as a normal experience, as part of being alive. To not allow an emotion to just be there and pass over you, usually only intensifies the problem by strengthening that emotional state even further. By 'pushing' the feeling away you are doing the exact opposite of what you are intending to do.

It is normal to feel sad sometimes. All emotions are normal; just like good and bad days, good and bad movies, good and bad people.

However, ultimately they are not the whole truth. Just because you feel sad, even for a few days, it does not mean you are a "sad person". Being happy, does not make you a "happy person".

Try not to identify yourself with any particular emotion, good or bad, and accept that you are not your emotions, you are a person that experiences emotions, just like every other human being on the planet.

Try not to identify yourself with any particular emotion, good or bad, and accept that you are not your emotions, you are a person that experiences emotions.

To have the perspective of finding things good, or in being happy, you must also have the contrast. This is exactly how the brain is able to label our experiences in the first place. I believe part of this is for our our survival as a species - emotions like fear serve to protect you from danger so you can survive to pass on your genes, while emotions like love and lust give you the desire to reproduce - however I also believe part of this is our brain processing that we are in fact alive. Without emotions there would just be content and no context. Emotions give our lives meaning.

"To understand and be understood, those are among life's greatest gifts, and every interaction is an opportunity to exchange them." - Maria Popova

If you want a life of meaning then you also stand to live an emotional life, with the ups and the downs. There is no denying this and there is certainly no need to cover up certain emotions or pretend they aren't there. A lot of people will say they're happy at times when they are not, thinking they should or need to be at that moment. Possibly assuming that they should be happy because "everyone else is except me". It's easy to feel like everyone else is happy all the time and that there is something wrong with you, when in fact this could not be further from the truth.

It would be fair to say that what everyone wants out of life is to be happy. This pursuit of happiness is precisely why they are not, at least not all the time, like we think we should, can or deserve to be. If you want to be happy, then sometimes you will get sad. This doesn't mean that you should put up with being perpetually unhappy for the hope that one day you feel happiness. It's just that the two go together and this integration should be a balance.

Sometimes you are happy, and sometimes you are sad. It's all part of being truly alive.

___________________________________
Rohan
Moredoundnt is a fun-loving writer who likes to reflect on what it means to be human and live the good life. Other passions include surfing, skateboarding, and learning about the great mysteries of the mind and the human experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To be happy means allowing yourself to also be unhappy. Happiness and unhappiness are two-sides of the same coin. They are inseparable, like up and down, or north and south - one implies the other. If you never felt sad, you would never even know when you felt happy.