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The Science of Happiness
Two Habits to Transform Your Happiness
Reading time: 2 minutes
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
Modern psychology reveals an interesting truth about happiness: most people live on a “baseline.”
Life’s highs—promotions, achievements, or even winning the lottery—offer temporary joy, but we always return to that baseline.
Similarly, life’s lows—losses, setbacks, or heartbreaks—briefly pull us down, but we recover to the same level.
This cycle explains why chasing the world often leads to diminishing returns.
We think the next achievement, possession, or milestone will elevate us permanently.
But when we inevitably return to our baseline, we feel that true happiness is always out of reach.
Yet, two proven practices can raise this baseline.
Service to others and gratitude.
When you serve others, you experience a joy that transcends material success.
Acts of service bring lasting fulfillment because they connect you to something greater than yourself, redirecting your focus from what you lack to the blessings you have.
Service creates a sense of purpose that chasing material possessions can never provide.
Then there’s gratitude.
Studies show that regularly reflecting on what you’re grateful for, even writing down just a few things daily, eases depression and increases happiness.
But the key is not just listing things mechanically but pausing to fully feel gratitude, realize how blessed we are, and let it transform our perspective.
As Allah says in the Quran:
Happiness comes from shifting our focus—from what we lack to the abundance already around us and from ourselves to the lives we can touch.
Gratitude reveals the beauty in the ordinary, while service teaches us that joy multiplies when shared.
Rather than chasing happiness, root yourself in gratitude and service, and watch as your life becomes more fulfilling and your heart more content.
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Reflection:
Have I taken time to feel and reflect on gratitude today?
What did you think of today's reflection? |
🕯️ Inspiration:
🤲 Make Du’a for Siraj 🤲
﷽
Ya Allah, Most Merciful and Loving, grant Siraj good health, a long life filled with barakah, and contentment in his heart.
Help him find peace and patience in his current hardships, and guide him through them with strength and faith.
Oh Allah, draw him closer to You and to those he loves and cares for. Mend and heal his relationships, filling them with understanding, compassion, and love.
Surround him with Your mercy and grant him success and happiness in both this life and the Hereafter.
Ameen.🤲🏽
🍉 WatermelonWatch 🍉
Day 421
‼️ Ongoing 56-day north Gaza siege: Israel massacred 40+ Palestinians by targeting & destroying 6-story building housing displaced Jabalia, dozens buried under rubble. Lack of medical supplies & oxygen tanks due to IOF aid blockade killed a 10 y/o child in al-Awda Hospital. Continuing raids targeting gatherings, homes & shelters killed 5+ people incl. a Civil Defense worker
⛑️ Israel deliberately targeted clearly marked @wckitchen vehicle in Khan Younis, killing 3 WCK aid workers; also killed 2 other aid workers in separate attacks. WCK now suspended all their food distribution & community kitchens in Gaza amid rampant starvation & Israel’s aid blockade
🌾 Israel targeted & killed 12+ aid seekers gathered by aid convoy in Khan Younis as Israel ensures attacks on all aspects of aid
🇵🇸 100 Palestinians killed in Gaza yesterday
🇵🇸 Gaza City (north): Deadly attack on home in Shujayea killes 7 people incl. a child; IOF drone shot & killed journalist Mamdouh Quneita on grounds of al-Ahli Hospital
🚩 1 IOF soldier killed, 2 injured in Gaza
🇱🇧 Israeli drone targeted & killed 2 civilians in Nabatieh, injured 2 others; separate attack on Tyre injured 3 incl. a child — clear violations of ceasefire. Israel renewed curfew for south Lebanon residents
West Bank:
🇵🇸 Nov 19-25: IOF killed 9 Palestinians across West Bank incl. a kid, 7 of them were killed in 48 hrs in Jenin; 37 Palestinians injured incl. 12 kids
🇵🇸 IOF shot, assaulted and injured 2 kids & a young Palestinian in Nablus
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