Every one of us wishes to have lasting happiness in our lives. But how is it possible to achieve it? Is there any way to make every moment of our life cheerful? I started to think about these questions when I saw people being happy on Eid days, exchanging greetings and blessings with each other. I saw them very pleased in their new Eid dresses, praying and wishing happiness to each other. All of them want this feeling to last and be permanent instead of a life full of hardships, uncertainties and miseries. We can achieve permanent happiness by following the nine methods referred below:

1. Begin each day with an activity that offers us peace, pleasure, happiness as well as helps to receive Allah’s blessings. Instead of performing a particular routine repeatedly, doing this will help to avoid tediousness and boredom. Whoever remembers and practices this every morning, will be more enthusiastic and energetic in his chores.
2. Feed positive energy to those surrounding you and be always optimistic in your words and responses. This will strengthen your positive thinking and also help you to see the colourful side of everything around you. Let your focus be on the positives of people instead of their negatives. Turn to Allah when a calamity or something unpleasant happens to you, so that you can be relieved of all the pains from which you are suffering. As someone has said, “The storm that doesn’t destroy you strengthens you!” In short, happiness lies only in positive thinking.
3. Set a goal in life and strive to achieve it, so that you can live happily in every moment. Even when you see obstacles, challenges or troubles ahead, you can enjoy the taste of happiness, particularly in two instances: one, when you are working towards the goal and the other, at the time of its achievement.
4. Engage in two types of exercises – physical and spiritual/mental. For physical exercises, you must have some particular time fixed like walking for 15 minutes daily etc. In the case of spiritual exercises – prayers, remembrance of Allah and recitation of the Holy Qur’an are the best ideas. These are inevitable as well as the fundamentals of happiness. (As the Quran says, “Surely in Allah`s remembrance do hearts find rest.”, 13:28). Tranquility is the highest degree of happiness.
5. Reading brings immense pleasure to our lives. It refreshes our minds, develops knowledge, increases our life experiences, enlightens our imagination and escalates our self-confidence. So, let’s pick a book every month to read! It will make us happy at two points: one, when we complete reading the book and the other, when we recollect what we have learned from it.
6. Try and practice newness in your life which will make you cheerful. Explore a new city, meet new friends, or taste new and uncommon food. Participate and engage in various events, club activities and seminars conducted in your country or online. When you feel bored, think of a journey that frees you from your routine activities and open your mind to fresh and exciting experiences. Go to a city filled with plenty of entertainment where you can go on a ride or enjoy and laugh with the clowns. Try to cook a meal, plant a tree, wash dishes, or sew clothes. Find time for meditation, sitting alone in a mountainside gazing at the clouds, stars, animals… All of these will bring happiness to your soul and make you pleased. It is stated, “The life of man is a book and only a few have read it more than a page!”
7. Interact with social groups through social networking sites. Be careful to not get addicted to one! So, open an account on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and try to sharpen your talents and skills, focus on your abilities, or provide people with values. And leave your signature behind!
8. Friendship is one of the sources of happiness because it enables us to keep the social and emotional equilibrium of our minds. So let’s make a friend or a partner who comforts and gives happiness to us. That’s why they say, “A friend in need is a friend indeed!” A friend will always be with us at the time of happiness, victory and blessings and also at times of misery and agony.
9. Be truthful to yourself, and love yourself! People are tempted to dedicate themselves to friends & forget themselves. Only those who are honest to themselves can sit and introspect. They would like to sit alone, enjoy, ponder and indulge in meditation with prayers and rituals, reading, touring and engaging in sports. Keep your secrets to yourself. Then, you will find you are the best to solve your own problems. I remember once a person visited me and complained that he was running from himself by hanging out with friends, getting addicted to mobile phones, wandering in the streets at night, so that he doesn’t get free time to sit alone and interrogate his own mistakes. I told him, “No problem. Even though you can try to run away from others, you can’t run away from yourself. A day will come when you will have to face your soul! Regardless of how strong your friendship is, it has always got limitations and cannot go beyond it. But as for your soul, there is no limit. So, always be honest with it.”

These are the nine practical ideas that help us to be happy. Thus, be one among those about whom Almighty Allah said, “And as for those who are blessed, they shall abide in the Garden as long as the heavens and the earth endure.” (Qur’an, 11:108) May Allah bless us to be among them.